Hide And Seek With A Twist (Edited Version)
by Caroline98
Summary: The battle between Sakura and Sasori ended differently. Sasori finished Chiyo off, but felt that Sakura could come into use. Instead of killing her, he kidnapped her and held her hostage in the Akatsuki hideout. Original story by Connahsquay!
1. Chapter 1

**Chapter 1**

"Chiyo-baasama! No!" Sakura screamed.

She ran as fast as her legs could carry her, lunging forward. Sasori held a poison covered blade to Chiyo as she flinched at her Grandson's touch. But before Sakura could even dream of reaching her, it was far too late. Sasori swiftly cut through Chiyo, allowing the poison to seep into her.

"You!" the pink haired kunoichi shouted at the Akatsuki member.

"How dare you!" Sakura threw herself at the red haired boy, but in her blind anger, Sasori knew how to counteract her. In a flicker, he disappeared. As the shock appeared in Sakura's eyes, it soon turned into a heavy stare; Sasori had jabbed a chakra point behind her and Sakura soon fell to her knees, unconscious.

"Finally," Sasori sighed, his eyes remaining emotionless. He leaned over and picked Sakura's limp body up, throwing her over his shoulder. "I never thought a little girl and an old hag could be so much trouble." Sasori looked up to the broken rubble of the ceiling that was above them, peering through to the sky. He squinted a little before looking around at the mess their fight had created.

"A little too much trouble for my liking," he finally finished. Sakura moaned a little as Sasori moved her onto his shoulder a little more. He huffed and slowly turned back to Chiyo.

"Well, Chiyo-baasama," he almost tutted. The barely alive Chiyo could only glare up to her grandson as she watched him carry the helpless Sakura. "It's a shame it had to end like this." Sasori took a step closer to the shaking Chiyo. He slowly leaned down to her level, balancing Sakura on his shoulder.

"But at least one good thing came out of this; you showed me just how good this little girl is as a medic nin. It was her that concocted an antidote to my poison, wasn't it?" he asked the struggling woman. All Chiyo could do was give a small, yet painful, nod to the red-headed man. Sasori let out a small chuckle "Well then one thing is for sure; she won't be saving anyone again." Sasori finally stood back up and slowly walked away and out of the crumbling cave.

'Now to find that Deidara,' Sasori thought. 'I hope he isn't going to keep me waiting again to finish his part of the deal.'

And with that, Sasori disappeared in a flash through the trees.

It didn't take too long to find Deidara. He hadn't made it that far and was in a bit of trouble with Kakashi and Naruto on his tail.

"Sasori-danna, un," Deidara called down from his clay bird as it swooped down quickly. Without hesitation, Sasori jumped up onto the clay bird and dropped Sakura down on its back.

"We should leave here now, Deidara," Sasori stated plainly. With that said, Deidara sharply pulled the bird around and headed away from Kakashi and Naruto.

"WAIT! Get back here!" Naruto screamed up to the bird, still trying to pursue it. But it was no use, Deidara was far too fast for the Jinchuriki and they soon disappeared off into the clouds. "Urrggh!" Naruto screamed in frustration, his eyes glowing a fiery red as he gasped for air. Kakashi calmly caught up to him.

"Don't worry about it, Naruto," the grey haired ninja stated. "We should probably get back to Sakura and Chiyo. They might need our help." Naruto nodded sharply to his sensei's words and quickly turned on his heels, heading back to the cave where Chiyo and Sakura had previously fought Sasori.

It didn't take long, but they knew as soon as they reached the entrance that something was wrong. Very wrong. Cautiously, they entered the ruined cave, only to find more rubble and decay from the fight they had obviously missed.

"Stay on your guard, you don't know if the Akatsuki are hiding. Or where Chiyo and Sakura are," Kakashi warned, gaining a small nod from Naruto. Then very quietly, hidden in the rubble, they heard a voice. Kakashi dashed forward to where it came from to find a half-dead Chiyo struggling to breathe on the floor. He picked her up and held Chiyo against him.

"Chiyo, what happened?" Naruto asked, his voice laced with worry, for he still hadn't seen Sakura.

"Sa-sa-" Chiyo coughed, a tear falling from her closed eyes.

"Sakura? Where is she?!" Naruto almost shouted, tears almost forming in his eyes also. Kakashi waved his hand at Naruto, telling him to calm down.

"Chiyo, is Sakura okay?" the copy nin asked soothingly. But Chiyo couldn't answer. She had no clue where Sakura could be.

"Sa-Sasori," she sighed heavily. "He...he had Sa-kura," Lady Chiyo finally managed to reply to the men. Shock took over Naruto, the fear of what would happen to Sakura terrified him. It hurt Kakashi also, but he managed to stay stoic for the time being.

"It's okay, Chiyo. We'll get you out of here," Kakashi added, but he knew it was going to be a useless attempt, especially after seeing how Sasori almost killed Kankuro. Naruto helped Kakashi carry the old lady out of the cave as she continued trying to tell them what had happened to Sakura.

 **A/N: I don't own anything.**

 **Only a corrected version of the story by Connahsquay from FanFiction. All the credits go to her.**


	2. Chapter 2

**Chapter 2**

"So why is she here, Danna, un?" Deidara asked Sasori, referring to the unconscious Sakura. Sasori turned his head a little to look back at her.

"She somehow concocted an antidote to my most deadly poison," he stated plainly. "So I thought she could be useful." Deidara snorted a little at Sasori, as he lowered the bird down into the trees so it was easier to hide.

"Has Sasori-Danna's poisons finally become ineffective?" Deidara teased his fellow artist. "One inferior kunoichi has found out a technique to use and you go crazy and kidnap her. Why not just kill her?" Deidara curled his lips downwards as he said that. The Leader was never happy when they brought strangers back to their hideout. She would probably be killed on site anyway.

"Not only is she clever, Deidara," Sasori almost strained, his voice with a tinge of annoyance in it.

"She's extremely strong. It seems a waste to destroy such power," he added. Deidara smirked back at his Danna and once again made the giant clay bird bank into the forest.

"Another puppet for the collection, Danna?" Deidara asked, not like it was meant to be a question, for he already was sure he knew the answer.

"Perhaps..." the red haired puppet master replied in somber.

* * *

 _Thwack!_

The noise a tree made when Naruto punched through it angrily. He could no longer be bothered avoiding obstacles in his path on the way back to the Sand village. Kakashi simply rolled his eyes at the young ninja, ignoring his rage as he carried Chiyo on his back. Chiyo was no longer moving, the poison had finally taken over her body, but Kakashi still had some form of hope to reach the village with her alive.

"Naruto," the silver-haired copy ninja called over. "I want you to go ahead and warn the village of our arrival. Tell them it's urgent and that they should try to make up more of the antidote that saved Kankuro," he instructed the blonde boy. Naruto nodded quickly and bounced off the branches of the trees until he reached the solemn desert just before the village.

It didn't take him long to run through the desert, for all that was in his mind was to save Chiyo's life, in order to save Sakura's. Once Naruto had the village gates in sight, he picked up his speed, reaching the gates in no time at all.

"I-I need...I need Temari. Temari...and Kankuro.. Right now!" he flustered out breathlessly to the guards. One of them quickly led Naruto through the Sand village towards the Kazekage tower, where Temari and Kankuro were waiting.

"What's wrong Naruto?" Temari hushed, allowing the blonde ninja to catch his breath. But instead, he burst out into huge sentences.

"Kakashi is coming here with Chiyo-baasama and she's injured with the same poison that Kankuro had and we need the antidote and Sakura is gone and we don't know where she is, so we need Chiyo alive because she knows where Sakura is, but we need that antidote. Do you have it?" This entire mumbled sentence just received strange looks from Temari and Kankuro, who had no clue what he had just said.

"Okay, breathe, Naruto. Now say it again," Kankuro suggested, taking a firm grip of his shoulder.

Naruto took a huge sharp breath inwards and started again. "Kakashi has Chiyo-baasama and she's poisoned but she knows where Sakura is, but the poison will kill her, like it almost did with Kankuro, so we need the antidote otherwise we'll never find Sakura because only Chiyo-baasama knows!"

Once again, the brother and sister of the Sand village blinked confusingly at Naruto, who seemed to get more and more frustrated with each blink. But luckily, before he could attempt to explain the situation again, Kakashi himself appeared.

"Chiyo is injured," he stated, and with that, Temari and other shinobi ran over to aid Kakashi and placed Chiyo on a bed.

"It's the same poison Kankuro had. Sakura knew the cure, but she's been taken prisoner by the Akatsuki." A sudden silence and panic grew over the room, everyone feared for poor Sakura.

"Those damn Akatsuki!" Kankuro grunted angrily, slamming his fist onto a table. "What do they want with her," he wondered out loud, but no one could give him any answer. The medic ninja's of the Sand began many experiments to make the correct antidote, remembering all the herbs that Sakura had used and trying out different ratio's and methods to get it right. But time was ticking away and Chiyo grew weaker.

"Chiyo-baasama," Naruto almost muttered under his breath, taking a hold of the old lady's hand as tears began to fall off his face. "Please pull through, we need your help," he almost prayed. But it was no good, for a few hours later, Lady Chiyo passed away from the effects of the poison.

"Someone should inform Ebizo of his older sister," Kakashi asked the Sand ninja's to do. With a nod, several of them disappeared to tell the bad news. Temari lay with her back against the wall, and Naruto was still clinging onto Chiyo's hand.

"C'mon Naruto," Kankuro sighed sadly. "There's nothing else we can do now." Kankuro placed his hand on the blonde ninja's shoulder to coax him away.

"She was our only hope," Naruto sobbed to himself quietly. "We'll have no idea where to find Sakura-chan now." Kakashi peered in the direction of Naruto briefly, before staring out of the window. The sun was setting and the sand turned an eerie reddish-brown color.

"We still have a chance, Naruto," Kakashi replied quietly. "All we need to do is find another member of the Akatsuki," he added and Naruto suddenly stirred up the room.

"Well, what are we waiting for!" he yelled, running over to his sensei. "Let's go, no time to waste!" Before Naruto could storm out the door, Kakashi pulled him back by his collar.

"No, Naruto," he said sternly. "It's almost night, this is unfamiliar territory, the Akatsuki will surely have the upper hand if we wander off right now." Naruto's fists curled up at the fact his sensei was so laid back about the situation.

"Kakashi is right, Naruto," Temari added, walking over to the pair. "Besides, you've had an exhausting day, you need some rest." Unwillingly Naruto agreed to stay the night, but it was a restless one. All he could think about was what poor Sakura could be going through.

* * *

Sakura's eyes flickered in, what she could make out, a very dark and damp room. She coughed a little as her sore eyes tried to adjust to the grungy room. But as she tried to move, she realized she was tied down to the bed she lay on. Suddenly panic set in, and she began to struggle and murmur under her breath, trying to escape.

"Now, now," a sly and slick voice called out. Sakura froze for a moment as the all-too-familiar face came into the very dim light of the room. "I wouldn't do that, if I were you," Sasori finished off. Sakura only glared at the red-haired Akatsuki member as he entered. His face seemed to have a small smirk on it, which made Sakura even more angry.

"Where's Chiyo?" Sakura spat at him. Sasori approached her bed, and Sakura tried to swing her arms at him, but she couldn't move them at all. Sasori smirked a little more at her helplessness.

"My grandmother no longer matters now," Sasori replied, his eyes never leaving Sakura. "She's probably long gone now anyway." Sakura's eyes grew soft; she couldn't believe she hadn't saved Chiyo.

"Where are we?" Sakura finally hissed again. But Sasori seemed to ignore her.

"You were a very strong opponent back then...Sakura." He lingered, walking up and down the side of the bed Sakura was strapped to. "And you almost beat me...with the help of my Grandmother." Sakura followed Sasori's movements up and down the bed, feeling nervous. She had no clue what he wanted. "A shame she's gone actually," he almost sighed. "It means you have no one to look out for you."

"Where are we!" Sakura shouted again. This time it finally got through to Sasori, who looked her directly in her eyes.

"You're in the Akatsuki hideout. The real one, unlike that fake cave we used before," the puppet master answered. "And you have two choices," Sasori added. Sakura stared up at him, tilting her head in confusion.

'What would he want me for?' she thought to herself. She thought this would just have been a show before the torture, before she became one of his puppets.

"You can either stay strapped to this bed, starving, freezing…dying," he droned out in a monotone.

"Or, you can help me." The pink haired kunoichi narrowed her eyes back at the S-ranked ninja.

"Why would I help you?" she hissed through her teeth.

"It could be your only ticket to getting out of here… Maybe," Sasori replied, the mysterious and unclear answer confusing Sakura even more.

"Could be?" she repeated, earning quite a large, yet evil, smirk from Sasori.

"Or you could just end up as a new puppet for my collection. Depending on how good I think your services are." Sakura gulped loudly at the word 'services'.

'What could that mean? What does he want me to do? Steal, kidnap, kill? Or worse... _serve_ him.' She drew disgustingly in her head. Nevertheless, Sakura nodded, of what she could whilst tied down. Almost happily, Sasori let out a small laugh before reaching down to untie her.

'This is it,' she beamed to herself, but keeping a stoic face. And as soon as one arm was free, it shot up, punching Sasori square in the face. As his body shot back into the wall behind him, Sakura took the chance to untie herself fully. Jumping down from the bed, she quickly dashed to the door, ready to escape.

"Not. So. Fast," Sasori's voice hissed aggressively from behind. A sudden force stopped Sakura, like she had hit an invisible wall. It was Sasori's chakra strings. He dragged her back to the bed, his face looked so emotionless, but Sakura knew how angry he must have been. With a massive thump, Sakura was thrown back onto the bed where Sasori once again chained her down heavily to it. Although she screamed and called out for help, nobody came.

"I see you have made your decision," he huffed after tying down the resistant kunoichi.

"I'll return in three days, then we'll see if you've changed your mind." And with that, Sasori left the room, closing the dank, dark and heavy door behind him, leaving Sakura in the despair and silence and the cold damp room for three days. Alone.

* * *

 ** _3 Days Later_**

"Kakashi, we've been out here hunting for Akatsuki for days now," Naruto moaned, dragging his feet through the sand. "We're no closer to finding Sakura than we were three days ago!" As Naruto continued complaining, Kakashi stayed silent, watching over the sand they were walking on for any signs of other shinobi. It was true, they hadn't encountered anyone who could help them find their friend. Not another soul wandered these plains and hope was fading quickly of finding Sakura alive. Naruto stayed strong though, he was persistent and Kakashi had also released his Ninken, but so far they had found nothing.

"Just stay alert, Naruto. We will have to move into new territory soon after we've searched this one," he reassured the blonde boy, but Naruto was never known for being patient.

"Kakashi, we need to move now!" he shouted loudly at the grey-haired copy nin. Kakashi flinched a little, but kept moving forward.

"Naruto, we want to leave no stone unturned. we can't afford to miss any information." Naruto finally agreed with a heavy sigh and continued to search high and low.

'Sakura, we're coming for you,' he'd repeat in his head.

* * *

True to his word, Sasori returned three days after Sakura almost escaped. With a loud creak from the door, he entered the dark and damp room where Sakura was held captive. She seemed to be unconscious, with shallow breathing and cuts all over her arms. She had obviously been trying to escape and had finally given up. With a heavy sigh, Sasori once again unbuckled the pink haired ninja from the bed, but this time she didn't fight back, she only made small groans of discomfort. He threw her over his shoulder and carried her out of the room, straight across the narrow hallway and into another room. However, this room was brightly lit, it was extremely tidy and had a small desk in the corner, with piles of paper neatly stacked on it. Sasori plunged Sakura onto the new, more comfortable bed, and before trying to wake her up, he attached a few of his chakra strings to her. With a few pulls of his fingers, Sakura was sat up unconsciously on the bed.

"Hey," he muttered, but Sakura didn't respond.

"Hey there," Sasori said a little louder. But again, no effect. With a roll of his brown eyes, he flicked his index finger, which in return made Sakura's hand slap herself across the face. The jolt soon woke her up. It wasn't the quiet start he was hoping for.

Soon Sakura began to scream loudly at him, shouting words that could only be described as brutal. Although his chakra strings prevented her from moving, Sakura still tried to swing violently, although she was extremely weary. Eventually the brutal words of Sakura faded and she once again gave up, gasping for the fresh air she hadn't received in the dank room before.

"Are we done?" Sasori asked with a bored tone in his voice. Sakura hung her head onto her chest. "Good," fe finished. Quickly, Sakura flew from the bed and landed lightly on her feet. Luckily Sasori was supporting her; she was not strong enough to stand on her own.

"This is my, well you could say, room," he explained. "Although I don't use it for that purpose." He pulled his chakra strings closer to him, pulling Sakura over too, which she wasn't too happy about.

"This is where you'll be working," Sasori stated. Without a word, Sakura simply nodded. She had no more energy to fight and she hoped as long as she did what she was told to do, Naruto would have more time to find her. Sasori propped the pink haired girl onto a chair next to the desk, which was covered with paper.

"On all of these papers are the ingredients I use in all of the poisons I make," the Akatsuki member stated. "You will work through these, applying the knowledge that Tsunade-sama gave you about producing antidotes...to make sure there are no antidotes for the poisons you will make."

Sakura let a tear role down her tired face. She was basically supplying the Akatsuki with the tools to kill people, possibly her friends if they didn't find her in time. Silently she sat at the table, under the control of Sasori.

"Well?" he asked in a frustrated manner. "Get started. I don't like to be kept waiting." Sasori retracted his hand a little, pulling on Sakura's body, which hurt her. With a small squeak Sakura began to search through the mounds of paper that laid in front of her, tears streaming down her face as she did so.

 **A/N: I don't own anything**


	3. Chapter 3

**Chapter 3**

It had seemed like weeks since Sakura had first started working on making un-curable poisons for Sasori. Althought it had only be two days, they dragged out so long for her. Every day Sasori made sure he had attached chakra strings to her before he moved her to his room. And every night he made sure to tie her down firmly so she couldn't escape. Sakura never tried to escape though, she was far too drained to even try. She was starved for five days and each night she was placed back into the dank, dark room. Slowly, even the kunoichi's health was declining from the ill-kept room and lack of nutrients.

But on this particular day, Sasori made a strange decision; he decided not to attach his chakra strings to her. Unaware of this, Sakura marched across the hall as usual, not aware that she was not bound to the Akatsuki member. The kunoichi sat down at her usual spot and began to sort through the paper. A few minutes later, she heard an unusual noise scratching behind her. Sakura's eyes widened in frights. She thought this would finally be the moment, the moment where Sasori finally finished her off. Warily, she slowly turned around to face the red-haired puppet master.

"Uh?" Sakura almost squeaked a little bit. Instead of facing her death, a blank face of a puppet faced hers. Its eyes were as black as coal, its face bare and sleekly carved. She slowly followed up it, finally laying eyes on its maker.

"Problem?" he said soothingly, as he continued to shape his new puppet. Sakura gulped loudly, and obviously Sasori heard it.

"No..." She tried to act bravely, but the fact was Sakura was terrified of puppets "It's just creepy looking." She still hadn't realized she was no longer bound to Sasori.

"My art is not creepy," Sasori almost hissed. He hated his art being insulted, by anyone. Mostly Deidara, though. "My art, all my puppets, have something perfect about them," he cooed about his designs. The red-haired ninja let his gaze linger on Sakura, watching her every frigid movement. "Whether it's their strength, their looks, their attack or defense. Something about each and every one of my puppets is perfect," he almost began to mumble. Sasori loved his puppets. They were his passion, his life.

"That is why you would make a great puppet yourself," he finished off. Suddenly a tinge of hotness flushed over Sasori. Was this embarrassment? Sasori may have accidentally complimented his captive prisoner. He shrugged it off quickly, and Sakura was too tired to notice anyway.

It wasn't until a few hours later he began to regret saying it. Sasori's eyes began to wander from his puppet, scanning the room around him and eventually always landing on the pink haired medic nin. Slowly he became distracted from his work, he looked over Sakura, lingering on her supple curves, her cherry-blossom hair, her sleek fig-

'Wait,' Sasori snapped in his head. His eyes dashed madly around the room, trying to explain to himself why he was thinking these strange thoughts. Suddenly he stood up. He saw Sakura flinch and couldn't help feel a tinge of guilt-

'Wait. What?' he broke again, with a slight shake of his head, he walked slowly over to the pink haired girl.

Sakura paused working, worried what Sasori was going to do to her. She felt his face come very close to her cheek. She felt her cheeks warm up, not for blushing, but for fear. She was so scared her work wouldn't please him. And Kami knows what an angry Sasori would do in this situation. Sasori let his chin gently rest on Sakura's shoulder, he noticed how scared she was. He frowned a little, but soon began to look over her work.

"Why haven't you used any metal extractions in these poisons?" he expressed in a concerned manner, his face falling a little. 'Maybe I put a little too much hope into this girl,' he began to think, but Sakura stayed calm and took a deep breath in.

"Because, Sasori," she stated so plainly it was almost like he was beneath her. "Metal can easily be extracted from the body, therefore removing most of the poison. It's better off without it." The red-haired Akatsuki member seemed taken aback by her knowledge, even a small smirk appeared on his face. But that quickly disappeared.

"I am the best poison maker in the entire Sand region, Sakura." Sasori frowned.

"Yes, but I'm from the Leaf, Sasori," Sakura replied hastily, with the same tone as Sasori. "And so is Tsunade, my sensei."

The puppet master then realized that this girl had studied under Tsunade, possibly the only ninja to excel his own poison and antidote making skills. With a 'hmph' Sasori retired back to the bed to continue working on his puppet. He didn't realize how wide the smirk was on Sakura's weak face. She may not be able to out-strength him, but she could certain out-word him. And Sasori liked that. He enjoyed a challenge.

And again it wasn't long until Sasori found his eyes wandering back onto Sakura.

* * *

The day passed quickly and Sasori could sense how weak Sakura was getting. She was barely able to concentrate on Sasori's work anymore. After the last final strokes of a blade across his newly formed puppet, he set it down lightly on the bed and sighed a little.

"Sakura," he sighed quietly, standing up and once again walking over to her. She knew what this meant; it was time to return to that disgustingly dull room. Sakura felt her heart break a little each time she was tied back down. Her arms were sore from trying to move, she hadn't eaten since being kidnapped. As she stood up to leave, her knees gave in.

Without even thinking, Sasori quickly reached out and grabbed the poor kunoichi. Her body was withering away, her lips were chapped and her hair was breaking. As Sakura lay calmly in Sasori's arms, he looked straight into her eyes. For some reason neither of them looked away. Sakura pleaded mentally for Sasori to release her, or at least give her food. At the same time, Sasori felt the guilt he had brought on to this fine specimen of a kuniochi.

"Come on," Sasori cooed softly, trying to make Sakura stand on her feet again. He helped a little by using his famous chakra threads to support her. Slowly Sakura regained full consciousness.

"Back...to the…room," she breathed heavily, barely walking on her own two feet. Sakura held her hands out to steady herself, but Sasori rolled his eyes and tutted to himself, guiding Sakura away from the normal door she'd pass through.

"Wha?" she moaned tiredly, turning to follow Sasori's strings.

"You need food," he almost demanded, guiding her down the hallway and into a large empty room. Sakura became a little more aware of where they were. The walls were plain stone and there were no windows at all, but there was a lot of artificial lights and lamps lighting the room up. There was no telling what time or day it was. The room was very basic, with a few chairs and sofas scattered around, a table in the very far corner and a piece of parchment on the wall. It was probably the entrance to the hideout.

It wasn't too long until Sakura was guided past the room and into a very small kitchen. The pink-haired kunoichi almost collapsed on the nearest chair as soon as Sasori's strings disappeared. Almost as quickly as she had sat down, Sasori had whipped up a bowl of hot noodles for her. As he placed it gently in front of her, Sakura pouted suspiciously up at him.

"You're hungry," Sasori pointed out, nodding towards the bowl. Sakura slowly lifted her hand up and pushed the bowl away from her a little bit.

"I'm…not," she unsurely replied, but all the Akatsuki member did was shrug down at the tired girl whilst pushing the bowl forward again.

"Eat," he almost ordered, but Sakura just rested her hands on the bare wooden table she sat at. She may have been tired and weak, but she was still the stubborn Sakura everybody in Konoha knew.

"Please," Sasori sighed.

This was a huge shock, for both Sakura and Sasori himself. He wasn't too sure why he wanted her to regain her strength so badly. Maybe it was so she could work better for him. Or maybe he felt sorry for her. Whatever it was, it shocked Sakura too. Still weary of the food presented in front of her, she slowly picked up a pair of chop sticks and began to pick at the food. The pink-haired kunoichi stared confusingly at Sasori as she took the first bite, but both seemed relieved that she finally did take a bite. Within minutes the entire bowl was consumed and Sakura couldn't help but smile at her full stomach at last.

"I-uh…" Sakura muttered, folding her hands over herself. "Thank you?"

Sasori looked a little stunned and all he could managed was a large 'doe eyed' stare back at her. Without another word, he attached a few chakra strings at her again, and all hope left Sakura's eyes again. The red-haired man slowly led her back to the dank room where she stayed. He was back to the same old routine, binding her to the bed, Sakura too tired to move and Sasori slowly leaving the room. But before he left, he couldn't help but stare back at the already asleep kunoichi, her body so still and perfe-

'Whoa. Stop,' Sasori ordered himself, glaring outwardly at his own thoughts before he finally closed the door behind him and left for the sitting room he passed with Sakura earlier.

"What was that about, un?" a blonde Akatsuki friend smugly called over to Sasori.

"What, Deidara?" he quickly replied, crossing his arms over defensively. Deidara smirked widely and then looked past Sasori and into the hallway behind him.

"That girl," Kisame joined in, as if he had been waiting for this moment to arise. "Who is she? And why did you bring her out of the room?" Sasori didn't like to be confronted, especially when he didn't even know the answer himself.

"She's…useful," the red-haired puppet master finally responded to the pair. Kisame folded his arms across his chest, not amused.

"I bet she is, un!" Deidara laughed whole-heartedly, but all this gained was a glare from his Danna.

"I fed her to keep her strength up. Nothing else," Sasori stated, soon after Deidara stood up, it looked like this was getting serious.

"Really, un?" the clay artist nearly snarled "Then why do you linger at the door?" Sasori managed to keep a calm face, but inside he had no clue how to reply. Kisame knew this was getting interesting, so he stuck around, a smirk tugging at his blue lips.

"You did it last night too, un," Deidara added, his long blonde hair flooding over his face. "And just then." Sasori had nothing to say to the blonde Akatsuki member, and all that was left to do was walk away from him. As he left, he could hear the concerned voices of Kisame and Deidara talking about the girl.

'Sakura,' Sasori hissed in his head, directed at the other Akatsuki members, his hands clenching a little. Without giving it any more thought, Sasori retired to his room, but not before giving one more sneak peak into the sleeping pink haired girls 'caged' room.

 **A/N: I don't own anything**


	4. Chapter 4

**Chapter 4**

Sakura had another bad night's sleep, although she couldn't toss and turn and try to sleep, she lay on her back concerned with Sasori's attitude.

'Why was he being okay?' she wondered all night. And eventually she came to two conclusions; either he was preparing to turn her into a puppet or he was feeling guilty for kidnapping her. Eventually she managed to close her eyes long enough to sleep, but it didn't seem long enough as Sasori seemed to enter the room only seconds later.

"It's time," he muttered down to the pink-haired kunoichi as he untied her as he normally did. It was the same old routine by now, untied, chakra strings attached, marched over to the next room to work again. But yet again, Sasori did a strange thing; he let go of Sakura once she sat down to work.

Sakura flicked through thousands of pieces of paper, liking her thumb swiftly so she could scan through them quickly. Then she started to hear the same noises she did yesterday. The pink-haired kunoichi had a little more energy today, and she looked over her shoulder to see Sasori scrapping away at a new puppet he had.

"Yes?" Sasori said without Sakura even saying a word and Sasori didn't even look up. Sakura blinked at the red-haired ninja, a little lost on what to say.

"Nothing," she plainly replied, but not turning away. Sakura just continued to stare at the wooden puppet in Sasori's arms. Slowly Sakura turned to face him, totally ignoring the work Sasori had threatened her to do a week ago when he kidnapped her. It seemed like a lot longer.

"H-How do you do it?" Sakura asked nervously. All this gained was a blink and a stare from Sasori, unsure if whether to even talk to her or not. "I mean," Sakura continued. "Why puppets?"

Sasori loved talking about his work, to anyone and everyone, even a hostage as it were.

"I was a young boy," the Akatsuki puppeteer began, gaining Sakura's attention. "My parents had died when I was very young, so I lived with my grandparents." Sakura's heart suddenly tinged painfully. She hadn't realized that Sasori actually _had_ parents. A life before the Akatsuki. A small frown appeared on her face that Sasori noticed. He knew what it meant, she actually cared about his past. When Sasori came to the Akatsuki they didn't even ask where he came from, all they asked of him was to be capable.

"I never had any friends growing up. I kept away from everyone," Sasori continued. "Then one day, my grandmother came to my door, asking if I wanted to learn the art of puppetry. I said yes." Sakura began to notice that Sasori was always straight to the point, no matter what he did or talked about. Very precise. Very handso-

'What the?' Sakura mentally blocked herself. Maybe it was the lack of sleep and food talking, but was she about to call her captor handsome? Surely not! She accidentally nodded off during Sasori's talk, and by then he was finished talking to her.

"And that's why I chose puppets as my art," the red-haired man finished off. Without another word, Sasori returned to fixing a new puppet, and left Sakura to her own again. Slowly Sakura went to turn around, but then something struck her.

"Why aren't you using your chakra strings?" she blundered out in shock, feeling her body all over to check herself. "Aren't you scared that I'm going to run away?"

Sasori slowly moved his puppet away from him, looking Sakura directly in her eyes, his face was very serious.

"Well, are you?" he asked, not looking or glancing away in the slightest. Something suddenly hit Sakura. It felt like fear and emptiness, her eyes were wide open as Sasori stared intensely at her.

"…No," she replied slowly, not being able to draw herself away from looking at him. Without replying, Sasori turned back to his design and began to carve into his puppet again. And Sakura was left to return to her work, her head all over the place.

'I could easily escape. But I dare not try,' she thought to herself. Eventually she convinced herself it was due to her deteriorating health and tiredness, she wouldn't have a chance. But something told her that it was something more than that.

* * *

It had been well over a week since Kakashi and Naruto began searching for Sakura, but they had decided after this long to return to Konoha and ask for the all the help they could get.

"What?" Tsunade's voice whimpered. "The Akatsuki?" The Konoha Hokage returned to her desk, slamming herself onto the chair behind it. "How could you leave her!" she finally screamed at the team seven duo. Naruto seemed to already be crying and Kakashi looked disappointed.

"I had my ninken search night and day for any traces of her scent, but there was nothing," Kakashi told Tsunade, he bowed his head sadly "It's like she's disappeared." Tsunade buried her head in her hands, unsure on how to reply.

"What about Gai and his team?" Tsunade finally responded, not daring to look up at the pair. Naruto just shook his head and allowed Kakashi to do the talking.

"They helped us search, but again nothing was found, Tsunade-sama." Naruto suddenly dived at the Hokage's desk, burying his knees into the floor.

"Please, Tsunade-baachan, you have to help us!" The blonde Jinchuriki cried out. Tsunade stared down at the boy, a little bewildered by his actions.

"Obviously, Naruto," the blonde woman replied, causing Naruto to shoot up off his knees. "But first we need to make a plan," Tsunade finished, clasping her hands together. With that, Shizune ran into the room holding about eight scrolls in her arms, almost falling over before she managed to place them down in front of Tsunade.

"I got them, Tsunade-sama!" Shizune hollered, finally catching her balance. A small smirk appeared on the blonde woman's face.

"Thank you, Shizune, just in time," Tsunade said, unrolling the scrolls in front of her.

"Okay. This is where we start..."

* * *

"Here," Sasori offered, pushing a bowl over to Sakura in the run-down kitchen of the Akatsuki hideout. Sakura had come to expect this. Ever since that first night when he gave her food, he had brought her here every night and made sure she ate every last piece of food he gave her.

"Thanks," Sakura said insecurely. Even though this now seemed a regular thing, she was never sure of Sasori's motives. Other things were beginning to change in the hideout too.

"Hey pink," Deidara laughed, passing Sasori and Sakura who sat at the table. Sakura didn't reply but continued to stuff her face. The other Akatsuki members had grown accustomed to Sakura leaving Sasori's room every night, although when they were out Sasori made sure to be connected to Sakura through his chakra strings, even though he never needed them.

"Done?" the puppet master said, as he watched the pink-haired girl pushed the empty bowl away from her. She nodded once up to him, but yet again that glint faded in her eyes. She knew where she was going to. Sasori noticed it, and scowled deeply. Slowly he walked Sakura back to the horrible room where she was bound to the bed. As Sasori guided her down the hallway, he suddenly stopped outside the door.

"Wait," he almost whispered under his breath, but just loud enough for Sakura to hear him. He pulled his fingers inwardly, which almost made Sakura fall over and turn away from the door, so she was facing Sasori himself. Sakura gulped, she hoped that now wasn't the moment where he decided she was of no more use to him. She closed her eyes in worry, thinking of anything but her fate.

Without a word spoken, Sakura heard a door click open and then the release of Sasori's chakra strings. Slowly she opened her eyes again. Sasori's room was open, and the red head was standing in the doorway.

"Come on," he almost stated, implying for Sakura to come into his room, where she would normally work. Sakura felt unhappy, he was probably only feeding her to keep her strength up so she could work longer for him. She frowned sadly as she followed in his steps. Before Sakura could sit down at her usual spot, Sasori called out her name.

"Sakura," he said "Not now." The pink-haired kunoichi turned around to face the Akatsuki member.

"Huh?" she mused, watching as Sasori directed her over to the bed. The bed he sat on whilst watching over her. Sakura always thought it looked so comfortable and warm. Sometimes she just wanted to crawl onto it with Sasori and sleep.

'Wait, that sounded bad.' She flinched to herself, her eyes breaking widely, which made Sasori tilt his head, wondering what she was thinking.

Sakura warily took a few steps closer to Sasori and the bed. She eyed him cautiously, keeping a stance on her in case he tried to do anything. But nothing ever happened. She crawled into the clean blank of the bed and was overcome with emotion. She hadn't had a proper bed until she was back in the Sand village, and even then it wasn't for a long time, maybe an hour or so. Then it hit her again. 'This is Sasori. An Akatsuki member, S-rank ninja, dangerous and evil... Why is he being nice to me all of a sudden.' The confused manner on her face sparked Sasori's words.

"What's the matter? Not good enough for you?" he said defensively. He hoped this girl wasn't taking him for granted after a few meals and a warm bed for a night.

"Oh," she squeaked. "No. I'm just confused," she confessed, staring down at the bed, terrified of his reaction. But it wasn't what she expected.

"About what?" the puppeteer replied, a little more softly than before.

"Why are you being nice?" she asked Sasori. "Feeding me, allowing me to walk without guarding me with your chakra strings. And now an actual bed," she listed, frowning deeply "And what about you, where will you sleep?" she finally finished.

So many questions buzzed around Sasori's head. He wasn't sure how to answer on of it to himself, never mind anyone else. So he answered what he could.

"I don't need sleep," he somberly replied, staring through Sakura. "You can stay here. Tonight," Sasori finished, but not before pulling Sakura's work chair over into the corner of the room, at the end of the bed.

Sasori let out a small chuckle behind a cheeky smirk. "You didn't think you'd get rid of me that easily, did you?" He smirked down to Sakura. Strangely enough, she almost laughed back tiredly, before drifting off into the best sleep she had had since being here.

 **A/N: I don't own anything**


	5. Chapter 5

**Chapter 5**

As Sakura woke up, she momentarily forgot where she was. The comfortable bed reminded her of her own, and the moment she was reminded that she was back in Konoha, in her own room, her own bed. She stretched lightly, arching her back as she did so. But when she opened her eyes, she was reminded of her current situation, which made her frown a little. She missed home so much; her friends, neighbors, relatives, but there was no chance of seeing them soon. Not unless Naruto and Kakashi were any closer finding the Akatsuki hideout.

"Good morning," that all-too-familiar voice lingered from the end of the bed. As Sakura sat up, she looked stunned. Sasori had been up all night, putting the finishing touches on his puppet again. Unsure of what to say, Sakura put her feet out of the bed and walked straight over to the desk where she would normally work on Sasori's poisons.

"Now is not the time," Sasori called over as he placed his new puppet on the floor. Sakura gasped a little, worried about what he meant, but it's not like it mattered. Sasori straight away attached his usual chakra strings to the pink-haired girl and led her out of the room.

"W-Where are you taking me?" she asked with fear hinting in her voice. She hadn't work well yesterday, she was mostly distracted by listening to Sasori. She wondered again if it was about to come to an end.

"The usual place," Sasori answered, leading her down into the kitchen again and allowing her to sit down. "This time for breakfast." Sakura looked up in shock.

'Breakfast?' she thought. 'It was near maybe two weeks ago where he starved me. Now I get breakfast and dinner? A warm bed? Something's not right.' But it didn't take long for these thoughts to disappear as Sasori placed hot food in front of her, which Sakura quickly devoured happily.

"Hey, pink, un," Deidara chuckled as he also entered the Akatsuki kitchen. He pulled over a chair to sit near the 'prisoner'. "Breakfast now too, un?" the blonde asked curiously, allowing his one blue eye to stare up at the blank face that belonged to Sasori. The red-haired puppeteer didn't flinch, he just waited for Deidara to get to the point he was trying to make. Sasori was always an impatient one.

It didn't take long, Deidara soon stood back up after lingering around the table, and waltzed over to his Danna.

"What's going on? You're treating her especially nice, un," Deidara whispered to Sasori. Sasori stood still and decided not to reply to his fellow artist, but this only annoyed the blonde man.

"Well, Sakura," Deidara moaned loudly, stretching his back out as he leaned away to walk out of the kitchen. "Enjoy your last meal," he cruelly teased before leaving the strange 'couple' to ponder his words.

Sakura's breath hitched in her throat, her green eyes widened as much as they could as she tried to spit out her words.

"W-What?" she chocked, tears almost filling up her eyes. "W-wait. No, no you can't do this. Sa-Sasori, please," Sakura began to beg, Sasori's attention finally turned to the pink-haired girl, concerned with her. "I-I did a-all your work, I don't slack off. I-I-I'm working as fast as I can, I promise! Please don't do this-" she began to panic. Sakura was terrified; Naruto was too late to save her. She had run out of time. Then suddenly and strangely Sasori came down to her level.

"Sakura. Sakura-chan. Sakura," he soothed, placing his hands on her shoulders. Sakura froze for a moment.

'What did he call me?' she hummed in her head. She also froze due to fear of what might happen to her.

"Calm down. He's lying," Sasori assured the pink medic nin.

Without a second thought, Sakura dived into Sasori's body, as if she was holding on for dear life. Her arms wrapped around him as she buried her head into his chest, almost crying for her life being saved. The shocked Akatsuki puppeteer's eyes widened as he realized that she was hugging him. He slowly closed his eyes in comfort, not realizing there was a blue eye spying on them from the kitchen doorway.

* * *

"Gai-sensei!" Tenten almost screamed in frustration. "How much longer do we have to search? It's getting dark," she moaned. Neji nodded in agreement, but of course Lee disagreed with them both.

"We must find Sakura-chan!" he boldly shouted, marching past his teammates. His look-a-like sensei nodded furiously as he led the way.

"That's good thinking, Lee!" the sensei announced, allowing Lee to catch up beside him.

"That is no attitude for Gai-sensei's team, Tenten!" Rock Lee beamed, looking up to his idol for support. And as the pair chatted away in front of the other two members, Tenten and Neji couldn't help but looked depressed.

"We've been out here for days," Tenten moaned to Neji, dragging her feet along the grass of the forest they walked through. Neji folded his arms over his chest and put his head down.

"It doesn't help when you've got Lee on your tail," the Byakugan user added. Suddenly Lee popped up behind the pair.

"Come on, you guys!" he shouted, causing Tenten to jump out of her skin. "We must continue! March on! We search until we find my love!" Lee finished optimistically, before catching up to his sensei.

"This is looking hopeless," Neji finally said, sighing sadly.

* * *

Sakura sat in her usual spot, again with Sasori watching over her. But he was more distracted than usual this time. He couldn't take his eyes off the girl in front of her. Occasionally he would return to his own work, but his eyes always found their way back to Sakura. And Sakura wasn't too focused either. She didn't understand why Sasori allowed her to be so close to him. She sat there staring blankly in front of her, just as distracted as Sasori himself. It wasn't until she heard movement from behind her that Sakura suddenly panicked herself back into her work.

"How are the poisons coming along?" Sasori quizzed as he slowly walked over to Sakura. The kunoichi quickly scattered paper around the desk, searching for her current work.

"Y-yes," Sakura answered unsurely as she spied her work. "I mean. Fine, i-it's going well," she cleared up, shuffling all the paper into a pile. Sasori leaned over her shoulder, almost taking in her scent as he did so.

"You need fresh clothes," Sasori stated. The pink-haired girl pouted at herself, but Sasori couldn't be more right. Sakura was covered in blood, sweat and dirt. She nodded once to agree with him. Without another word Sasori took a hold of her shoulder and picked her off the chair. He took her over to the small drawer in his room and opened the top drawer and began to search through his belongings.

"Here," he said, pulling out a plain white baggy shirt. "This should help," the puppeteer added, throwing it over to the kunoichi. Sakura fluttered her eyes at Sasori in shock, surprised at how nice he was still being to her. She unfolded the shirt and looked it up and down. She placed it over her body, smirking down at the clean top, before returning her gaze up to Sasori.

"Turn around," Sakura almost commanded, her cheeks turning a slight shade of red. At first, Sasori didn't realize why Sakura blushed at him, but then he realized that she was shy to change in front of him. With a cheeky smirk, Sasori turned his back to the kunoichi to allow her to get changed. Quickly Sakura removed her red shirt and replaced it with the white one Sasori provided. Sakura smiled to herself as she felt the softness of the clean shirt, she tugged at it around her body, it had been weeks since she last changed.

"I see you've finished changing," Sasori almost chuckled. Sakura's head shot up as she realized Sasori was looking at her. She blushed madly, trying to hide her face, but then she gained her normal composure.

"Hey!" she almost giggled, but seriously. "How dare you, you didn't know if I had been changed or not!" Sakura blushed, her face red hot, but Sasori disregarded it.

"Does it matter?" Sasori smirked, just before he took a few steps closer to her. "Suits you," Sasori almost whispered.

"Thanks," Sakura mumbled under her breath. Sasori probably didn't even hear her. As the awkwardly sweet moment passed, there was a knock on their door. As quick as he could, Sasori attached his chakra strings to Sakura once more. It was just in time as the door swung open.

"We've been discovered," an angry Deidara scowled from the doorway. Although Sasori remained calm, Sakura's eyes widened, some in fear of who discovered them, and for relief of actually being found.

* * *

"Gai-sensei!" an exstatic Lee hollered at the top of his voice. As Tenten, Neji and Gai finally caught up to the mini-Gai look-a-like, they noticed nothing special.

"And what Lee?" Tenten frowned. Rock Lee stood in front of a large stone in the middle of the forest they had been searching through for many weeks by now. Lee gasped loudly and dramatically, but of course Gai sided with him.

"Great determination, Lee!" Gai-Sensei beamed down to his protégé, who copied every stance his idol did. "But, uh. What is it that you see?" Gai finished, rubbing his head a little. Lee almost face-palmed himself, but he knew that he was right to bring them over to this particular rock.

"Look, team!" Lee finally finished shouting, pointing down to the bottom of the rock. And he was right. As Gai-sensei's team gathered closer, they all saw it. An entrance seal.

"This must be it," Gai said seriously. And with an indication to Neji, he activated his Byakugan to search inside the hidden hideout.

"I see. Lots of chakra. There are quite a few people inside there. It would be unwise to attack now," Neji confirmed. But Lee wasn't happy with this.

"No!" he shouted, scaring Tenten and almost scaring Neji out of his Byakugan. "We must save my Sakura-chan!" But this time Gai disagreed. But as he shook his head, Neji suddenly fell to the ground in pain.

"Neji!" Tenten shouted worriedly, jumping over to save Neji. "What's wrong!" Neji finally snapped out of his Byakugan.

"Itachi," the brown-haired boy panted, trying to catch his breath from the fall. "He knows we're here."

 **A/N: I don't own anything**


	6. Chapter 6

**Chapter 6**

Sasori didn't reply to Deidara, but just allowed him to leave the room. Sakura grew confused, she didn't know whether it was Naruto who had found the base or whether it was someone worse than the Akatsuki themselves. Sasori began to leave the room, chakra strings attached to Sakura, but she tried to detain herself in the room.

"No wait," she called out as the Akatsuki member went to leave. "W-Who is it? Who's found us?" But Sasori didn't reply to her. Instead he just pulled his chakra strings, so Sakura had no choice but to follow.

"W-wait," Sakura tried to insist, but it was no match to Sasori chakra strings on her. "I've done your work. Please, you should let me return."

Even though the Akatsuki hideout had been discovered, the atmosphere outside of Sasori's room was very calm. As the puppeteer dragged her over to the other members, they waited patiently at the entrance seal.

"There's only one way out of here," Itachi Uchiha murmured to the rest of the group. "And they're still outside. Waiting for us." Suddenly panic set in for Sakura. As she looked around the room, she knew if it was Naruto outside, he would be no match for who stood on this side; Itachi, Kisame, Sasori and Deidara of the Akatsuki. Guilt set in. She knew she was the one who would cause Naruto's death if this fight happened.

Sasori looked back over to the kunoichi, who looked worried. As Itachi and Kisame made the hand signals to open the seal, Sakura's heart sank.

* * *

"Neji...That must mean," Tenten sighed, helping Neji back to his feet.

"Tenten," Gai seemed to order. As Tenten turned to face her sensei, he continued. "Go back to the Konoha. Find Kakashi and Naruto, they will want to know we've found it." With that and a nod, Tenten rushed back to the village.

"What should we do, Gai-sensei?!" Rock Lee burst, saluting his idol. Gai simply straightened his gaze at the rock in front of them.

"We wait," he finally answered Lee. "We should wait until Kakashi-" But he was interrupted. The rock in front of them began to crack, as Neji, Rock Lee and Gai took a stance. They knew it was too late for Kakashi and Naruto to arrive now.

* * *

Sasori clutched his fingers together, which caused Sakura to involuntary hide behind him. She gasped in fright as Itachi and Kisame removed the giant rock in front of them. Sasori guarded Sakura, but it wasn't unnoticed by Deidara, who just frowned over at him, but Sasori didn't know. As the wall crumbled in front of them, Sakura noticed them; Gai-sensei's team.

Suddenly, without noticing, Sakura was thrown into the trees behind Gai's team by Sasori's strings, so she was unnoticable. The Akatsuki members took their stance against Gai's team, but they already knew the outcome.

"Sakura-chaaaaaan!" Rock Lee hollered as he jumped into the battle, but Kisame deflected him easily.

"Lee!" Gai-sensei called out, but he and Neji stayed in their stance.

"We'll give you a chance to leave," Deidara laughed to the leaf ninjas. "Walk away, and we won't destroy you."

"Not. Until," Lee hissed, bringing himself back in front of the Akatsuki members from the blow from before. "You give us Sakura-chan back!" From the trees Sakura gasped at how brave he was. Sasori glanced into the trees, making sure the kunoichi wouldn't give herself away.

"Seriously, all of this is about that little girl?" Deidara chuckled, giving the team a cheeky smirk. Gai's team almost snarled at the blonde Akatsuki member, but Itachi interrupted them.

"She's not here. Can you tell?" Itachi muttered somberly. Itachi didn't care what plans Sasori had for the pink-haired medical ninja, but it was obvious he wanted to keep her for some reason. As Sasori diverted his attention from the trees back to the battle, Lee dove into battle again. But this time, the Akatsuki disappeared.

"Huh?" Gai and Lee both gasped, but Neji stayed calm and activated his Byakugan.

"Behind us," Neji simply answered the both of them. As they all turned around, Deidara had already moulded clay spiders, which were at the feet of Gai's team.

"Katsu!" Deidara said, which caused the spiders to explode. Luckily Gai's team jumped back just in time. But before they could even try to counter attack, the Akatsuki disappeared into the trees.

"They're gone!" Neji shouted in frustration.

From the trees, the Akatsuki hid themselves on the branches, watching down on the shinobi. Sasori appeared behind Sakura, just in time before she shouted to the team.

"Sakura," Sasori hushed, throwing his hand over her mouth. Sakura just sighed when he did this. She knew if she shouted she was putting her friends in danger. There was no way they could fight the Akatsuki alone like this. And if she gave the Akatsuki away, Kami knows what they would have done to her. Sakura's eyes grew sad. She was so close to freedom she could taste it, but she couldn't have it. Then so close to Sasori himself, a kunai flew past.

"Damn that kid and his Byakugan," Kisame glared. The kunai had flown past all four of the hidden Akatsuki. Itachi quietly dropped himself from the trees and decided to face the team alone.

"God damn it, Itachi," Kisame growled angrily at his partner. Now he too had no choice other than to come down and fight. As the Akatsuki pair stood in front of Sakura's friends, she couldn't bare to look, but turned her back to the fight and buried her head into Sasori in fear once more. Deidara glared at his Danna, unhappy with how close the girl was getting, but he returned his focus to the fight. A confused Sasori's breath hitched in his throat when Sakura almost hugged him, but he did something strange back; he placed half of his cloak over her, as if to hide her… or protect her.

As Gai's team and the Akatsuki members prepared to fight, Deidara and Sasori watched from the trees, but as soon as kunais and jutsus began to clash, Sakura turned around to see that the destruction began.

"Lee!" Sakura hollered out, trying to rustle her way out of Sasori's cloak. "Neji!" the pink-haired chunin continued. Sakura struggled away from Sasori, who had forgotten to keep his chakra strings on her. She jumped down from the trees and began to run towards the fight.

"Now you've done it, un," Deidara almost hissed, as he and Sasori jumped down to restrain her.

"Sakura-chan!" Lee hollered, but Neji discouraged him and he stayed back. Before Sakura could interrupt anymore, Sasori attached his chakra strings to her and pulled her back.

"Remove her," Itachi called back plainly as he and Kisame stayed in front of Gai's team. Deidara stayed put as Sasori began to walk slowly back into the forest, with Sakura in tow. Although she fought against him, Sasori was much more powerful than her.

"No!" Sakura continued to call out, but Sasori just continued to drag her through the forest.

"Let me go, let me go, Sasori!" she cried to him, Sasori slowed down when he was far enough away from the fight.

"I'm not leaving here without you, Sakura," he stated.

"Then let me die!" she cried.

With that, Sasori lessened his chakra and Sakura collapsed to the floor, tired and crying. Sasori frowned a little, taking a few steps towards her and knelt down in front of her. Without warning, Sakura once again threw herself at him, crying in his lap. They must have stayed there for a while, Sakura crying whilst Sasori waited patiently. And that was very unlike him. Sasori was never the patient type. They stayed there so long, Sakura eventually cried herself into sleep and Itachi, Kisame and Deidara caught up to them.

"We left them alive," Kisame snorted unhappily.

"Well, maybe, un," Deidara smirked. "They won't be moving for a while." Sasori stayed somber as usual and picked Sakura up over his shoulder. Deidara, without a word, drew some clay from his bag and with his hands sculpted it to a large clay bird. All the Akatsuki members climbed on top of it.

"All the trouble for that girl, un," Deidara bitterly announced to the group as he lifted the bird from the ground and high into the sky.

"She must be worth something," Itachi added.

Sasori lay Sakura down on the back of the bird and stared at her sleeping, just like he did every single night she had slept. It was becoming a habit of his, one that he liked. Watching over her reminded himself of when he slept. When he'd done normal things. His life before… You could say that Sasori had an infatuation with this girl; how brave she was, but she was never afraid to be human. He adored how was-

'Wait,' Sasori mind-interrupted himself. 'What am I thinking?' he frowned. Slowly, Sasori turned himself away from the pink-haired girl and back to his fellow Akatsuki members.

'I guess she is,' he thought silently.

 **A/N: I don't own anything**


	7. Chapter 7

**Chapter 7**

The Akatsuki finally arrived to a new base, bordering the village hidden in the rain. Luckily Pein had plenty of them, so they chose the one least likely to be attacked. They already knew that Konan lived here for most of the time, so she was probably here too. Sakura had finally woken up just before they landed at the base. Sasori had already re-attached his chakra strings to her as she woke up.

"Hurry up, un," Deidara said, poking at Sakura to get off his sculpted bird. Sakura glared at the blonde man, but all he did was smirk cheekily back at her. Deidara didn't mind Sakura at all, it kept Sasori quiet. But he didn't appreciate how close they were becoming. It was dangerous for Akatsuki to have 'outside interests'.

Itachi made a hand sign and slowly the barrier in front of them, which was a large metal sheath, began to disintegrate away, leaving the inside open for them all to walk through. Sasori guided the kunoichi into the new hideout.

"You're late," a voice unfamiliar to Sakura called out when they entered. From the shadows in the room, a blue-haired woman walked out into the centre of the room. "The leader told me to expect you, but a lot earlier on than this," she finished. Sakura noticed that she was carrying an origami bird in her hand, but she placed it down on the table before continuing talking.

"You must have run into trouble," the blue-haired woman added. Deidara pouted a little at her before taking a few steps forward as the passage behind them closed over.

"Konan," Deidara tried to swoon, but it would have no effect. "I wouldn't call it trouble, more of a delayment." Before he could say anymore, Itachi walked over to the blonde clay user and butted in.

"Just some ninja from the leaf village," Itachi stated. "No trouble at all." With that, Konan lightly nodded at them and went to turn away, but then she froze and turned back around.

"Sasori," Konan said, earning a look from the puppeteer. "Who. Is that." It was almost a command to tell her rather than a choice. Sasori firmed his grip on his chakra strings, accidentally pulling on Sakura a little as he did so.

"Sakura, from the village hidden in the leaf," he replied. Sakura tried to avoid eye contact with the newly met Konan as Sasori talked about her. "A formidable medical ninja, trained by Tsunade herself. She managed to counteract my most deadly poison in the Sand." The way Sasori spoke made Sakura blush a little, and yet frown at the same time.

"I guess you could say he's employing her, un," Deidara added with a smirk, but Konan didn't smile back at him.

"You speak highly of her," Konan noticed. Sasori seemed to flinch as he also realized it and Sakura buried her head lower into herself. "I see no other reason for her to be here if she's not what you say." And with that, Konan turned back around and disappeared into the darkness again.

All the other members of the Akatsuki separated as they tended to their own business in the new hideout. Sasori kept his chakra attached to Sakura as he led her down a nearby hallway and into another room. This room looked almost exactly like the one in the old hideout, very basic and clean, but with one difference; there were no papers laced all over the desk.

"Because of the rush we had to leave in, I was unable to take any of my work," Sasori stated. Sakura frowned at herself. She had spent weeks working on those poisons. Even if it was against her will, it was still classed as her work, so she felt bad that it had all been wasted.

"That means you will be here longer, working for me." Sakura had already known this from the empty room. She started to think there was no chance of ever escaping the Akatsuki. She nodded softly and returned to her usual captive self, sitting at the desk trying to work.

* * *

"Gai-sensei!" Tenten cried, running over to her sensei and injured friends. Gai, Lee and Neji lay strewn across the floor, injured from their encounter with the Akatsuki members. Even though Tenten wasn't the best at medical ninjutsu she tried her best to heal her teammates.

"Tenten," Kakashi warned, running over to Gai as he did so. "This isn't going to help. We need to get them to the hospital." Tenten nodded as she picked up Neji and Rock Lee before shooting back to the hospital as fast as she could, leaving Gai with Naruto and Kakashi.

"Gai, what happened?" the copy ninja asked his friend, who was just about conscious to reply.

"The Akatsuki, Kakashi." Gai tried to laugh as normal, but he was in far too much pain. "They knew we were here. They ambushed us by facing us straight on. It was unexpected," he tried to explain in between breaths.

"Did they have Sakura-chan with them, Gai-sensei!" Naruto hollered, bending down to help him out. All Gai did was nod back.

"That gives us hope," Kakashi added, picking his friend off the ground with the help of Naruto. "It means she's still alive." Naruto seemed to tear up at the fact his teammate was still alive and deemed safe. As Naruto and Kakashi carried Gai back to the village, Naruto smiled to himself.

* * *

'We'll find you, Sakura-chan,' he reminded himself.

Another day passed as Sakura slept in a new place once more. She woke up again to face Sasori sitting at the end of the bed, watching over her. As she stretched and woke up properly, Sasori walked over to her.

"Good morning," he said, not showing a smile or any emotion, but Sakura was well used to this by now. She knew exactly what Sasori was like. How dedicated and passionate he was in his work, how every morning he'd wake her up and say good morning, how he'd make her breakfast and treat her normally, unlike the other Akatsuki members.

'If he wasn't part of the Akatsuki I'd probably like- Whoa,' she paused. She was staring blankly into Sasori.

"Sakura," Sasori clicked, trying to bring her out of her stare. Sakura blushed a little before getting herself out of the bed.

"Breakfast, yeah," she hushed, jumping up, but Sasori stopped her.

"Sakura-chan," he intervened, causing the blush on her face to worsen. "Not today." Sakura turned around and squinted a little in a confused manner at the red-haired Akatsuki member. "Konan is here. She's not used to you," Sasori continued, Sakura turned back around and sat on the bed. "It wouldn't be safe to let you out of this room. Not yet."

Sakura took a deep breath in. It was like day one all over again, but then with a brave face she nodded and stood up to walk over to her normal workplace, to start all over again.

"Sasori," she said, just before sitting down. A 'hm' escaped Sasori's throat in response.

"That…Konan," the captive girl began. "She said...you speak highly of me." Sakura suddenly blushed once more and turned her face away. "Well, why? Why do you even care where I'm from or what I do? I'm a pawn," she belittled herself, allowing the blush to fade. Sasori didn't seem to like the way she did that and he frowned harshly at himself.

"You're special, Sakura," he complimented, completely out of character to himself. "You were able to disarm me completely, you worked me out. No one else has ever done that before." Sakura's eyes turned back up to Sasori's who was staring at her intensely. He suddenly swooped down to her level.

"I guess you could say you're important to me," he almost whispered. Sakura didn't know how to take that, could she take it in the economic sense? Or a personal sense? She was confused with the situation unravelling in front of her. But luckily, I guess you could say, there was a knock on the door before anything else could happen.

"Sasori-danna," Deidara called in before opening the door. Sasori had already retreated away from Sakura before the door even moved but Deidara could tell something was going on. He smirked at the two of them before speaking;

"Danna, Konan wants to talk to you," he stated. As the puppeteer went to place his chakra strings on Sakura, Deidara wagged his finger. "Alone, un," he added. Sasori looked over to Sakura in a concerned manner. Sakura almost seemed lost. It was the only time she would have been alone without Sasori ever since he took her.

"Don't worry, un. I'll stay here and watch her," Deidara smirked cunningly. Sasori had no choice other than to leave and find out what Konan wanted from him. Deidara closed the door as soon as Sasori left and wandered over to Sakura, who was still sitting in her work chair.

"Hello, pink, un," he chirped, but Sakura wasn't having any of Deidara's attitude. She tried to ignore him, but he walked over to her and continued talking.

"So, Sasori-Danna's work, ne?" he quizzed, even though he knew the truth. "I'm surprised. He never let's anyone near it, especially strangers like you, un." Sakura knew Deidara well enough by now that he loved causing fights and arguments. Sasori had warned her to just stay quiet around him.

"So tell me," the blonde said as he swiftly pulled Sakura around on the chair. "What's going on with you two?" he insisted, smirking down at the girl.

* * *

Sasori arrived outside Konan's room and lightly knocked on the door. Without a word, the door silently opened for him to enter. He entered the room, and noticed the walls were covered in blank paper, which rustled as Sasori moved past them.

"You called for me?" he implied to Konan as he approached a desk at the back of her room where she was sat at. There was no light at all in the room, only that which came from the open doorway.

"I did," Konan replied quietly. Her eyes slowly came up to meet Sasori's as the pair stared in silence for a while.

"Well?" Sasori nudged impatiently "What did you call me here for?" Sasori was never a patient one, but Konan didn't care to rush either.

"This…new girl," the blue-haired woman began. "What's her name again?"

"Sakura," Sasori replied swiftly.

"Why did you kidnap her?" Konan questioned again, but Sasori could see where this was going.

"Konan, I took her to work for me, nothing else," Sasori stated, taking Konan back a bit. "I'm just waiting for her to finish my work," he added, but Konan was unconvinced.

"You're being remarkably patient with her, Sasori," she stated. "That's very unlike you, that's all I'm saying." Konan took out a piece of paper from her desk and slowly began to play with it, folding it over on itself.

"Just expressing concern, Sasori," Konan added. "We don't want any...distractions in the Akatsuki now, do we?" Suddenly Sasori froze. He had realized just how much time he had wasted on her. The time he spent watching over her, admiring what a perfect specimen for a puppet she would be. And even what a good specimen of human she is. Sasori had begun to admit to himself over the past few days that he _may_ have an infatuation with her, but Sasori was always one for self-restraint and never one for distractions.

"Not a problem…Konan," Sasori said, as he turned to leave the room and head back to his own.

* * *

"Come on, Pinky, un," Deidara implored. "I know something's going on. I've seen it." Sakura suddenly stopped her work and turned to face the clay-dabbler.

"You've...seen what?" she finally replied. This earned a large smirk from Deidara.

"What, un?" he began. "You've not noticed?" Deidara retreated a little from the girl and sat down on the bed opposite to her. "When he watches you while you sleep, the way he makes sure you're safe, no matter what, how he never wants to leave your side. You think this is all because you provide useful poisons?" Deidara sneakily strung out a list of Sasori's doings. "Don't act like you were unaware of this, Pinky, un," Deidara seemed to hiss at the end of his sentence. "And don't pretend like you don't like it either, un." Sakura opened her mouth to reply to the accusations, but before she could the door clicked open again.

"You can leave now, Deidara," Sasori almost commanded and as the blonde Akatsuki member left, he couldn't help but take one last look at the confused kunoichi.

"I'm sorry if he caused you trouble," Sasori said on behalf of his partner as he closed the door behind him. Sakura didn't reply, but she couldn't bare look him in the face. It was true, he was her captor, but she had been there so long that it no longer felt like that. She felt like she was here by will, that she had no reason to run unless she thought of how her friends were trying to find her. In fact, if they weren't looking, Sakura would probably be fine here, alone with Sasori. Suddenly, Sakura's eyes shot up to look at Sasori, who stayed emotionless on the outside.

"What did he say to you?" the red Akatsuki member asked her, but she didn't reply, and for some reason Sasori was fine with it. "It's late," he added, earning a nod from Sakura. She turned around slowly and crawled onto the bed behind her and into the clean, crisp blanket. As she got herself comfortable Sasori walked up to the side of her.

"Sakura-chan," Sasori almost whispered, making Sakura's breath hitch in her throat. "What's it like?" he asked insecurely, finally showing the slightest bit of emotion to Sakura.

"W-W-What do y-you mean?" Sakura stuttered madly at him.

"Sleep," he plainly said. Sasori looked down to the floor. He hadn't slept since he was fully human, a good fifteen years ago. Sakura smiled at herself, at how meak Sasori seemed over a simple thing that everyone took for granted.

"Oh, well- I- Uh," she tried to explain, but it seemed useless to explain something so natural. Then with a stroke of probably what was madness and kindness together, she sat up and shuffled to one side of the bed. "Here," she insinuated, tapping the bed for Sasori. A bit lost, Sasori just stared at Sakura, unsure of what she wanted from him. Sakura tutted to herself before grabbing the Akatsuki member's arm.

"Lie down," she insisted, almost forcing the puppeteer to join her. Sasori's eyes were wide as he lay down next to the pink-haired kunoichi and she seemed so calm, lying with an S-rank ninja.

"Now try to relax," Sakura stated, as she snuggled herself into the bed a little more to get comfortable. Sasori was a little lost, so he attempted to copy Sakura. With a yawn, Sakura stretched her body out, as Sasori lay watching her every move next to him.

"What now?" he asked, as he watched Sakura battle her sleep to stay awake for him. It made him smirk to himself.

"You-uh," Sakura thought out loud, fluttering her eyes, trying to watch Sasori. "You sleep. You just… close...your eyes…and-" Before she finished her sentence, Sakura nodded off into a sleep, leaving Sasori lying next to her.

During the night, Sasori stayed still and watched Sakura sleep as he normally did. As Sakura tossed and turned, she eventually spun over to her side once more and placed her arm across Sasori's body. Sasori's breath hitched as she seemed to hold onto him and all he could do was lie there. A frown appeared on the sleeping Sakura's face as she moved closer to Sasori. It looked like she was having a nightmare as she moaned in her sleep. Strangely enough, Sasori allowed it and later on in the night, he couldn't help but place an arm around her, to protect her from whatever she was dreaming about.

 **A/N: I don't own anything**


	8. Chapter 8

**Chapter 8**

Sakura woke up in the light of the room, not natural light, but Sasori always kept a light on so he could work through all the hours that normal people would sleep. A single green eye fluttered open, then swiftly closed back shut.

'Oh no,' Sakura cursed in her head. Sakura was still wrapped around Sasori, as he hadn't left her side all night. Her slender arm was over his waist and her head rested on his chest. 'What do I do, what do I do?' she began to think over and over again, then it clicked. Pretending to still be asleep, Sakura slowly tried to turn over to the other side of the bed.

"So you're awake," Sasori said in a monotone, making Sakura freeze. Very slowly and awkwardly she stretched out, acting like she just woke up.

"Oh," she smiled coyly. "Yeah, I'm awake. I hope I didn't bother you in my sleep," she hinted at, hoping Sasori would realize and play along with it. Without replying, Sasori got up from the bed and walked to the centre of the room.

"Not at all," he finally replied, making Sakura relieved. She felt so embarrassed that she had slung herself all over the Akatsuki member.

"Although you did lie on me for the majority of the night," Sasori added, making Sakura freeze as she sat up and she slowly hung her head away from him. She didn't see it, but Sasori just smirked down to her. Slowly Sakura stood up and took her usual place at the desk.

This no longer seemed like work to Sakura anymore. She had been with Sasori for such a long time it was almost like she was part of the Akatsuki herself. She didn't know if that was even a bad thing anymore. She now felt safe around them, even though she hardly saw the other Akatsuki members. They accepted her when they saw her, it was almost like a second home now. Although the Konoha ninja never liked that thought, she took safety in the fact of this meaning that Sasori probably would never kill her now. As she shuffled through the paperwork that belonged to the puppeteer, there was a knock at the door. Sasori no longer felt the need to hide the fact he never attached his chakra strings to her anymore and the door opened soon after the knock.

"Itachi," Sasori gloomed, allowing the Uchiha into his room.

"Konan wants to see…her," Itachi lingered, pointing his finger over to Sakura. The pink-haired kunoichi just glared back up at Itachi before sighing heavily and getting up from the chair. As Sakura left through the door, walking awkwardly past Itachi, Sasori went to follow, but the Sharingan user held his hand up to the fellow Akatsuki member.

"I'll take her," Itachi stoically told him, which left Sasori with no choice other than to wait for Sakura to return.

Sakura nervously toyed with her hair as Itachi pushed her up the long and eerie corridor, down to where she assumed was Konan's room. Sakura was so confused, she didn't know what this woman would want with her. All the worst thoughts started to run through her head. Maybe she wanted to dispose of the Konoha kunoichi, maybe she had seen too much of the Akatsuki and was now a liability. As Itachi closed in on the only door left in the corridor, the pink-haired girl gulped noticeably loudly. The Uchiha Akatsuki member tapped on the door twice before it opened by itself. He didn't take another step and made it obvious that Sakura was to enter alone. She pushed the door open a little more and walked into the dark room. Sakura couldn't see much, just white walls smeared with random pieces of paper and an eerie glowing light in the corner of the room.

"Sakura," Konan's voice called out from the dark. Sakura stood still. She couldn't see the blue-haired girl anywhere, so instead she waited for Konan to reveal herself. It didn't take long. Not long after, Konan stepped out into the barely lit room, face to face with Sakura.

"…Konan," Sakura replied, trying to keep fear and wariness out of her voice. Konan didn't smile or seem too happy, but at the same time she didn't seem displeased. Sakura found it hard to read her.

"How long have you been with Sasori?" she asked. Suddenly, Sakura froze and began to panic once more.

"W-Wait what?" she stuttered worryingly "We're-Uh- We aren't together. S-So I'm not with him, I mean- I-I've never been with him...not like that." Konan shushed the stuttering kunoichi before she could continue and seemed to smile down to her.

"How long has he kept you with him?" she tried to re-phrase, insinuating that she didn't mean an actual relationship. Sakura sighed in relief when the Origami specialist interrupted her. She didn't know what else she could've said without getting in too deep.

"Uh- I don't know," the pink-haired ninja replied, putting her head down a little. "It's been such a long time, and I haven't really been outside much. I can't remember," she finished. It was true. It had been a very long time, maybe pushing two months since Sasori had kidnapped her. She even gave up hope that Naruto was looking for her, because they probably thought she was dead anyway. Konan just nodded slowly down at her before turning her back on the medic ninja.

"I've seen your work, Sakura," Konan admitted. Sakura's head shot back up, worried. She felt like she had betrayed Konan somehow, maybe because she already felt guilty for helping Sasori in the first place with such an evil deed. Even though now Sakura just saw it as normal work. "You're very skilled. I believe you were a medical ninja in Konoha, right?" Konan quizzed her. All Sakura did was nod. Suddenly, all of her old memories were flooding back. She remembered how she even learned how to create perfect antidotes to any poison, and now she was using that to create the most deadly poison she could make. She was terrified it would be used against her friends. But Konan's voice brought her back from her thoughts.

"I've heard that it was Tsunade who trained you. Impressive." Konan just seemed to pick at Sakura's heart strings, and each one hurt more than the last. "And that's why I called you here." Sakura made a strange face. She was obviously confused by Konan's motive here. She didn't know what she wanted from her.

"We would love a medical ninja," Konan began and Sakura suddenly knew the reason behind her calling her here. "In the Akatsuki." Her breath hitched in her throat.

"W-Wh-" she began to say, but Konan just interrupted her again.

"You can leave now," she suggested, pointing to the door. Sakura seemed to forget how to move for the first few seconds, but she soon found her way out. Itachi was still waiting outside for her. He had probably heard everything, but Sakura was still confused.

'Was she being serious?' Sakura thought to herself. She was so preoccupied with these thoughts circulating her head that she didn't realize that Itachi had led her back to Sasori's room. He left her outside the door, allowing her to enter when she wanted.

When Sakura did finally enter the room, Sasori was waiting for her, impatiently of course. But she didn't even spare him a glance, rather she just returned to her normal position, her head spinning full of Konan's words and her own confusion. Sasori couldn't tear his eyes away from her, he was also confused.

'She seems so lost,' he thought, frowning at himself a little. 'I wonder what Konan could've said to her.'

* * *

"Tsunade-sama!" Shizune screeched as she ran into the Hokage's office. "Tsunade-sama! We must inform- Oh." She came to an abrupt halt as she spotted that Kakashi and Naruto were already in the room.

"What is it, Shizune?" the Hokage responded as Shizune walked over to join the gathering. Naruto looked very worriedly over at the dark-haired woman as she stood next to him.

"We have insight to where the latest Akatsuki hideout is." Suddenly the shock overcame Naruto as he realized that he could still find Sakura.

"So she's alive! Is she okay?" he shouted excitedly. "What are we waiting for, Kakashi? Let's go, come on!" But Tsunade just held her hand up to Naruto to stop him.

"Naruto," she spoke. "Don't get carried away. We don't know anything about this information yet." Tsunade then nodded at Shizune to continue talking.

"Right. One of our ANBU squad members came across a seal, similar to the one that Gai's team found on the rock at the first Akatsuki base. It's near the village hidden in the rain." Kakashi seemed to groan at this information, and he had a right to.

"That's prime Akatsuki territory," Tsunade sighed, "It might just be a trap." But Naruto refused to listen to anyone but himself.

"But if Sakura's there, it's worth taking the chance, isn't it!" he hollered, making Shizune jump a little next to him. Once again, Tsunade had to put a stop to his rambling.

"Naruto," she said with a hint of sadness in her voice. "We don't if Sakura is there...we don't even know...if- she's alive." The Hokage seemed to choke, making Naruto do the same. He was so determined to find his pink-haired teammate, he was willing to jump on any lead that he came across to get her back. To hear what could realistically be the truth made him terrified he had waited too long.

"It's a seven day journey, Tsunade-sama," Kakashi finally intervened, making the group turn their attention to him. "There is no rush. The Akatsuki have no clue we're looking for them, they're unlikely to flee." Shizune and Tsunade both nodded at him in agreement.

"I would like to request if we could have another team accompany us, considering there is only Naruto and myself." Tsunade nodded and instantly began to write something on a piece of paper.

"Shizune!" the Hokage seemed to demand, almost throwing the paper over to her. "Recruit these ninjas for me. Have them ready to depart by tomorrow." And with that Shizune leapt out of the room once more.

"Be ready to leave at noon tomorrow, Kakashi, Naruto," Tsunade informed the pair, who just both nodded as the turned to leave the room.

"Don't worry, Naruto," Kakashi tried to soothe. "We're on our way again."

* * *

Sakura had ignored Sasori's requests to have food before bed. She also ignored him whenever he tried to engage her and talk to her. Sasori wasn't one to be unhappy with the silence, but when he couldn't focus on anything other than the girl, it was hard to accept it.

"You're finished for today," the red-haired man finally spoke. Sakura still didn't reply to him, but she just walked straight over to the bed. She sat on the edge and stared forward at the desk she had just been sat at. Sasori seemed to sigh at himself before he joined her, sitting next to her. As he opened his mouth to speak, Sakura suddenly poured her heart open.

"Sasori, I'm so confused," she cried. "I don't know what to do anymore. I could stay here, but it doesn't feel right. I'm sure no one is looking for me anymore, it's almost like I'm meant to be here, but I don't know- Konan said I'd be a good addition but-"

"Konan said that?" Sasori interrupted her.

Sakura's green eyes peaked up to Sasori's brown eyes, tears were on the boundaries as she nodded very slowly to him. The puppeteer sighed to himself. There was nothing he wanted more than to protect Sakura. From the first day they met, when he realized it was her who made him meet his match, he knew he had to have her. Talent like that wasn't something Sasori wanted to go to waste. He had spent so much time thinking about her, watching over her and now finally getting to know her, this wasn't what he had planned. Not at all. At the most he wanted her for a week at most, but something stopped him from destroying this perfect specimen of kunoichi. Suddenly he felt a tinge inside of him, as he slowly looked back over to Sakura, who was now crying. Slowly, Sasori wrapped one of his arms around her, pulling her a little bit closer to him. Sakura was too distressed to even think of this as strange anymore. She already knew he had some form of feelings towards her. Why else would she still be here?

"Sakura," he finally responded. "Konan is right." Suddenly Sakura shot her head up, tears stopping for the moment. "You are very useful. Your skills are impressive, beautiful, strong. You would make a great addition to us." Sakura's breath hitched in her throat.

"W-What?" she managed to stutter, finally making Sasori realize what he'd said. He tried to forget about it and continue what he was saying.

"Y-You're intelligent, a-and brave. I-In-credibley good w-with medical n-ninjustu." He noticed the smallest of smiles appear across the pink-haired girl's face, which almost seem to light up Sasori's day to him. He edged himself to a different angle, so he was now facing her face to face.

"What did you say?" Sakura tried to coax out of him, but it was no use. Sasori just looked down at her, with a small smirk on his face. Sakura felt a little insecure as he seemed to linger on her, but before she could do anything about it, he leaned forward a bit more.

"You're the perfect specimen of kunoichi that has made me meet my match," he admitted, and with those words he sealed his lips on top of Sakura's.

The initial shock almost made Sakura jump back if she felt like she was able to move, but she didn't. Sasori placed his hands on her waist to get a little closer to her and strangely enough Sakura allowed it. Slowly Sakura's eyes closed in the ecstasy of his kiss, as she leaned into him, allowing the kiss to deepen. Sasori leaned into the kunoichi and pushed her back onto the bed, making Sakura gasp into the kiss. Sasori couldn't help but smile. He felt like he had been waiting for this moment forever. He rested himself on his arms, lying over Sakura's slender body. Sakura's hands snaked over the puppeteer's shoulders as one of his hands fondled in her pink locks. The kiss seemed to last forever, but eventually it ended. Sasori pulled away slowly, gazing down at the blushing girl below him. He kissed her lightly one more time before sighing, what almost seemed happily. Sakura let out the smallest giggle as her hands dropped down to her side, allowing Sasori to get up, but he didn't.

"I want you to stay," he told Sakura, but she didn't have time to reply. Instead, there was a knock at the door. Sasori jumped backwards and left Sakura alone on the bed, and opened up the door.

"Deidara," he said bluntly, once he recognized his partner's face.

"Sasori-Danna, un," the blonde Akatsuki member smirked back. "I heard something coming from your room. I just wanted to make sure that Pinky wasn't giving you trouble," he asked, trying to peak into the room, but Sakura had managed to climb underneath the cover of the bed so she was out of the way.

"Not at all," Sasori replied stoically, blocking Deidara's view into his room.

"Are you sure, un?" Deidara chuckled. "I can always deal with her, if she gets out of hand, un." But Sasori just narrowed his eyes a little at his partner.

"I'm sure there will never be a need for that, Deidara," he replied closing the door in his partner's face. Sasori turned back to face Sakura, but noticed she was already tucked up in the bed, fast asleep. Without disturbing her, Sasori climbed onto the bed also, just like he did when Sakura had tried to teach him to sleep. Although he knew it was futile he didn't care. He just enjoyed being near her, watching over her as she slept. As she mumbled in her sleep, as she normally did, Sasori just watched her quietly and he didn't leave her side all night.

 **A/N: I don't own anything**


	9. Chapter 9

**Chapter 9**

"Kiba! Shikamaru, Ino!" Naruto roared, running over to his old friends. These were the ninjas that Tsunade had recruited to accompany Naruto and Kakashi to the village hidden in the rain.

"Good choices, Tsunade-sama," Kakashi complimented. "Kiba and Akamaru for their senses, Shikamaru for his strategy skills and Ino in replacement of Sakura's healing skills." Although this was the obvious reason for their recruitment, Naruto felt better knowing that they all had such great skills that would help them locate Sakura.

"Let's get going, guys!" Naruto cheered, but once again Kakashi stopped him.

"I think we should talk through the mission with the others first, Naruto," he almost commanded. "They don't know everything that has happened yet." Naruto groaned in frustration and joined the others in talking about their trek to find Sakura. He just wanted to leave, but Kakashi knew that Naruto rushing ahead would be no good for the team and Sakura's safety.

Sakura's pink hair covered her face as she woke up, but unusually a smile was on her face. She yawned and stretched herself out, before realizing she was alone. Her puzzled eyes scanned the room, but there was no Sasori present. Sakura finally got out of the bed and went to leave the room, but as she went to open the door, the handle turned from the outside and she quickly retreated away from it.

"Sasori!" Sakura gasped, relieved it was him and happy to see him. Sasori remained as stoic as ever, but she was used to it by now.

"Come," he almost seemed to order, but Sakura just took it in her stride as she followed him out of the room, supposedly for breakfast. However, he walked straight past the kitchen and towards the seal that allowed them to leave the hideout.

"Where are we going?" Sakura asked confused, but Sasori didn't reply to her. Instead, he opened the seal on the door, allowing the pair of them to leave the Akatsuki hideout. But it didn't stop there, Sasori continued walking, but Sakura was shocked and confused. As she followed, she took deep breaths, enjoying her first real breath of fresh air in months, watching the wind rustle through the surreal tress around her as Sasori walked deeper into them. They seemed to walk for a few minutes, deep enough into the trees so the base wasn't noticeable anymore before Sasori turned to face her.

"Sakura-chan," he said in all-seriousness, making Sakura feel uneasy. The puppeteer took a step closer to Sakura and lowered his voice, his eyes scanning over her as he did so.

"You have a decision to make," he continued. "And you have to make it today." Sakura's breath hitched in her throat. She was still afraid of Sasori of course. The power he had was immense. It wasn't like she could run away right now, nor did she really want to.

"As you already know, Konan wants you to become a member of the Akatsuki. With your superior medical ninjutsu you would make a great addition." Sakura couldn't help but smile to herself, with Sasori complimenting her, but she realized that they were still an evil organization. Although like a family which she was hostility introduced to at the beginning but is still slowly growing into, they still had evil motives.

"And what about you?" she interrupted the Akatsuki member, making him flinch a little.

"Hm?" Sasori pouted, furrowing his eyebrows.

"I know what Konan thinks of me. But what about you?" She playfully tried to draw from her almost lover. Sasori just seemed to stare through her for a few moments, before smirking.

"I think we both know the answer to that," he tried to dodge, but Sakura shook her head. But Sasori began to talk before she could continue trying to coax things out of him.

"Sakura, you need to make a decision," The puppeteer butted in. "You can join me - us, the Akatsuki. Or; you can leave. Now." Sakura gasped quietly, shocked that she had such a short time to make a decision. Although it was obvious in her mind to run, something was telling her not to. Her green eyes darted around, trying to search for an answer, but there was nothing to help her.

"But if you leave," Sasori interrupted her thoughts. "I will have to come after you. And kill you." A tear formed in Sakura's eye as she began to panic, looking to Sasori's stoic face for help, but he gave her none.

"You know too much, Sakura. We couldn't just let you leave with all the information you have." It seemed like a lot of time had passed since Sasori asked her to make a decision, but it had literally been only minutes, but to Sakura it wasn't long enough.

"Well?" the red-haired man tried to edge her on, but the moment Sakura's mouth opened it didn't close.

"Well, I don't know where I am, or how to get home, I could at least have a head start if I decided to leave, but if I stayed I'm safe, and I'm growing to like everybody, but I miss all my old friends, but if I leave I won't see them anyway-" she continued, but Sasori sighed to himself as he stopped listening to her list all her reasons for staying and leaving him - the Akatsuki. He then realized that Sakura had stopped talking and she was staring intently at him, his eyebrows furrowed again and stared back at her.

"Okay," she answered, sighing to herself, knowing there was no other way. "I'll stay." Sasori's eyes widened, in part shock and happiness. Before he could even think he ran over to her and picked her up by her waist.

"Sasori!" Sakura shouted, but with a laugh in her throat, joking with him and he held her. Sasori slowly brought her back to the floor, still holding her. Sakura blushed madly at him as Sasori smirked cheekily down to her. Before anything else happened, they heard a voice shouting at them from the distance; it was Deidara.

Without warning, he landed in the midst of Sasori's and Sakura's 'moment' on a large clay bird. Luckily Sasori had released the pink-haired kunoichi, so Deidara didn't suspect a thing.

"Konan wants an update, un," Deidara announced loudly as he landed on the ground, his clay bird disappearing. "And considering she's still here, un. I'll take it it's exactly what Konan wanted." Sasori smirked one sidedly to his partner-in-crime. Deidara nodded his head and began to sculpt clay once more, producing a giant bird.

"Then head back to the hideout. I'm sure Konan will want to speak to you, un," Deidara instructed, jumping onto the bird as it lifted itself off the ground.

"What about us?" Sakura shouted up to Deidara.

"You can walk, un," the blonde boy laughed as he flew off above them. Sakura didn't mind, as she looked over to Sasori still smiling at him. She didn't know if this was the best decision, but it felt right at the time for Sakura. As they both walked off, back to the hideout, their hands slowly intertwined with each other.

"Okay, Naruto, we can leave now," Kakashi chuckled, watching the blonde boy leap out of the room in joy. Kiba laughed at his old friend as he jumped onto Akamaru's back in order to keep up with Naruto.

"Yes! We're finally going!" Naruto cheered as the rest of the team followed him. Kakashi stayed behind in the Hokage's office with Tsunade and Shizune.

"Worried, Kakashi?" Tsunade asked him, but the copy nin didn't reply straightforwardly. Rather he just smiled underneath his mask to her.

"Naruto's anticipation might get us into trouble. I just hope it's all worth it in the end, Tsunade-sama," Kakashi replied to her, before jumping onto the window sill, ready to join the rest of the squad.

"Be careful, Kakashi!" Shizune called out to him, but once again he just smiled underneath his mask and joined the rest of his squad.

'I just hope we're not too late to save her,' Kakashi solemnly thought to himself, focusing on the mission ahead and watching the ambitious Naruto heading the front of the group.

 **A/N: I don't own anything**


	10. Chapter 10

**Chapter 10**

Sakura had settled in extremely quickly as the newest Akatsuki member. It was only fitting considering how long she had been a 'prisoner' for. Konoha days were long behind her now and memories faded fast as new ones formed. The leader hadn't yet given her a partner, and it seemed unlikely for it to be Sasori, because Deidara was his partner, but it didn't bother her too much, because their relationship was as strong as ever. As Sakura sat in the living quarters alone she thought how she could make the most of this, and she could only think of one thing worth it all.

'Sasori,' she sighed happily in her head as she pulled a pillow closer to herself, hugging it lightly and resting her head on it.

"Nice, un," Deidara snorted as he walked in on the pink-haired girl. Sakura didn't reply to him, nor did Deidara care as he sat down opposite her.

"Where's Sasori?" she asked the blonde, but he shrugged his shoulders back at her.

"Sasori-danna likes to go out by himself sometimes, un," the clay-sculptor replied, making Sakura's lips frown slightly. "It's just something you have to get used to."

Sakura would certainly have to get used to it. This looked like her life now, and for some reason she was content with it. As she dug her head back into the pillow, another Akatsuki entered the room.

"Sakura-chan," Konan announced as she entered, making Deidara sit up straight in her presence. Without another word to the pair, Konan handed a quite long Akatsuki cloak to the pink kunoichi. As Sakura reached out to grab it, Konan let go and walked back out.

"I-Is something wrong?" Sakura unsurely asked Deidara, unfolding the cloak on her lap to check it out.

"Not at all, un. That's just how she is," Deidara cleared up, but it didn't make Sakura feel any better. Sakura stood up and pulled the cloak over herself, feeling a cold shudder, from the cloak itself, and the slight betrayal of her village she felt. But she always reassured herself they had given up searching for her by now. As she looked down at herself, she came to terms with it all; Sakura the Akatsuki. It didn't seem too bad. Not yet anyway.

Sasori had taken himself far from the Akatsuki hideout as he tended to like to do. It was the first time he had done it since he had kidnapped Sakura, but that was no longer the case now. He rested himself in the trees far away from anything and everything, in the peace and quiet of the forest, not even a bird tweeted.

"Nice," he soothed to himself, before settling down, just to think and contemplate his surroundings.

But soon his thoughts were plagued by Sakura all over again. He was far too used to it now, but he still received a little smirk on his face whenever he thought of her. Her smile, face, perfect skin, those eyes.

'Dammit,' he thought, grunting outwardly with frustration as he picked himself up from the tree branch he was sitting on and decided to head back to the hideout, just for her.

"KAKASHI-SENSEI," Sasori suddenly heard burst from the forest. He dropped down quickly onto the branch again, as low as he could get so he wouldn't be spotted, and waited whoever it was out.

* * *

"KAKASHI-SENSEI," Naruto hollered throughout the forest, causing birds to take flight that heard the screech. "How much longer will this be? We've been traveling for days," the blonde boy moaned, dragging his feet along the floor, obviously in agony.

"Not much, Naruto. We're almost there," his grey-haired sensei replied simply, as the group continued walking. "Right, Kiba?"

Kiba nodded back to the sensei as Akamaru barked. "Yeah, Akamaru says the scent is strong. We must be on top of them."

"ALRIGHT!" Naruto screamed again, regaining his boundless energy from nowhere, making the others jump. "Sakura, here we come!"

* * *

'Sakura?' Sasori gasped in his head, his eyes narrowing on the loudmouth blonde in the group. 'Who are they?' he thought, but at that moment he remembered something important.

"Kakashi...the copy ninja," he hissed to himself. As his emotionless eyes scanned over the rest he searched his head for answers on who they all were, but to no avail. "Well, anyone traveling with Kakashi must be worthy...and they're after Sakura too." And with this knowledge, Sasori sneakily moved backwards into the shadows, and back to the hideout, which in no doubt the others would reach soon.

"Deidara," Sakura mumbled against a pillow, lifting her head up to see her lover's partner-in-crime. "How long do these wanders of Sasori's usually last?" she asked impatiently, yawning slightly.

Once again, Deidara shrugged at her. "A couple of hours, un," he responded, stretching back into the chair he was sat on. But with that action, the seal opened in the room and Sasori burst through, to Sakura's delight. But he seemed to totally ignore her and instead, headed off straight down the hallway.

"Wa-?" Sakura stuttered, trying to run after him, but she felt a hand on her arm. It was from Deidara.

"Just leave him, un," he said sternly, "Something's wrong."

Sasori knocked on Konan's door hastily, and gave no time for it to really open as he sleuthed in the smallest crack as it opened for him.

"Sasori?" Konan said, not seeming too amused by being interrupted.

"There are Konoha ninjas, close to the base. They're searching for us," he informed, but Konan stayed silent for a few moments, agitating Sasori.

"What should we do?" he finally asked, but Konan stood up and turned to face him.

"We have enough Akatsuki here to handle any situation. Inform the rest to be aware." With a nod, Sasori left and prepared to tell the rest.

* * *

"Guys!" Shikamaru called out, as the rest of the team ran over to a large metal looking shack that stood alone just before the village hidden in the rain. As the group joined him, Shikamaru pointed at the seal that lay on it.

"This must be it," Kakashi stoically added as the rest nodded in agreement. "Before we enter, Shikamaru will have us run through the strategy for this mission."

"But what about Sakura!" Naruto growled again. "What if she's hurt? And we're wasting time sitting outside!"

"Naruto," Ino tried to calm him down, but it didn't seem to help.

"Well we'd be no use if we just charged in without a strategy. We'd put ourselves and Sakura in more danger," Shikamaru moaned, before he continued with the plan.

* * *

"Danna, un?" Deidara said as Sasori walked back into the room, followed by Kisame and Zetsu, but soon Zetsu disappeared through the floor, off to spy on the outside shinobi. A showdown was about to begin.

"What's wrong, Sasori?" Sakura asked concerned, walking over to him. Sasori then noticed she was wearing the cloak, and he smiled down to her.

"It suits you," he retorted, making Sakura's cheeks glow the same shade as her hair. Sasori became serious again as he pulled Sakura to the side of him, as if to protect her again.

"Konoha ninjas have found the hideout," he told Deidara, and suddenly Sakura felt like there was no oxygen left in the world. Her head became dizzy and she felt sick.

"Naruto," she muttered under her breath, her eyes as wide as they could be. Zetsu's head appeared through the ground again.

"There's five of them," the white half of his face announced to the group. "One girl, four men."

"So we're equally matched, ne?" Kisame laughed, cracking his knuckles loudly.

'Ino too?' Sakura said in her mind, worriedly. "And no doubt Kakashi will be there."

Without noticing, Sasori called out his favorite two puppets, ready for battle. Deidara began to mess around with the clay in his hands, and the others waited around patiently for the seal to open up, and for the battle to begin. Sasori slowly put himself in front of Sakura, as if to hide her before the seal opened.

"Understood?" Shikamaru asked the group, who all nodded in return. "Good."

With that, Kakashi made a hand sign and placed his other hand on the ground, sending a shockwave to the seal, blowing it off in a violent fashion. As smoke filled the air, Ino jumped back into the trees. In the place of Sakura, she was the medical ninja for Kakashi's team for this battle.

"Sakura!" Naruto shouted into the smoke as he waved it away, trying to get a better look.

Sasori turned to face Sakura, of what little he could see, and gave her a reassuring look, and she didn't call back to her old friend.

 **A/N: I don't own anything**


	11. Chapter 11

**Chapter 11**

As the smoke cleared away from the battle field, Sakura hid safely behind her lover, Sasori, hidden so well that not even Naruto noticed her when the smoke completely left.

"YOU!" Naruto screamed desperately at Sasori, who stayed oh-so-calm whilst being accused. "What did you do with her? Where is she!" he yelled, but Sasori didn't answer. However it earned him a strange look from the rest of the Akatsuki members.

"That's where you got her from?" Kisame laughed, pointing at the Konoha ninjas. "You sure know how to pick them!"

The furious Naruto growled angrily at all the cloaked men and called out one more "Where is she! Give her back!" But this time Kakashi interfered.

"If you hand over Haruno Sakura, there will be no need to fight. That's all we're here for." Deidara began to chuckle to himself, but Sakura gasped quietly. Tears would have filled her eyes if she wasn't so frightened to move.

"Can you see her, un?" the blonde Akatsuki artist laughed, defending his Danna. But this didn't please Naruto as he called up his multiple shadow clones to charge the Akatsuki.

"Not so close, un," Deidara snarled as he scattered out tons of small clay spiders. "Katsu!" he shouted as they all exploded, making all the clones disappear and the real Naruto fly back into the group also.

Suddenly Kiba and Akamaru jumped out and ran towards Deidara, but this time Sasori had his back as he pulled out one of his puppets to deflect their attack.

"They're strong," Kiba grunted as he paired up with Naruto. "Shikamaru?" they both said together and the brown-haired shinobi nodded. He knew what to do and stealthily began his shadow possession jutsu as Kiba and Naruto covered him from attacks.

"Shadow possession," Sakura whispered, just a little too loudly to keep to herself and Sasori overheard her. As the red-haired member scanned the floor, he noticed the thin shadow heading towards Deidara.

"Deidara," Sasori called over to him. "Watch the ground, his shadow possession." And as Deidara looked around, he saw what his Danna meant.

"Not so close, un!" he shouted as he quickly sculpted a large clay bird and took flight into the darkening sky so Shikamaru's jutsu was useless.

"What?" Kiba growled. "How did he know?" As they all turned their attention to Sasori, who was still cool and calm, they scanned his body.

"Shikamaru, go for him," Kakashi asked before he himself dived forward towards the red-haired puppeteer.

"No, you don't," Kisame shouted as he dived in front of Sasori who stayed still, still hiding Sakura behind him. As he withdrew Samehada, his sword, Kakashi knew to avoid it. And as the pair fought out, with Kakashi avoiding Kisame's blows and Kisame trying to lay a touch on the copy nin, Shikamaru set his plan into action and began his shadow possession again. Sasori had been watching them. He knew that if he moved, Sakura would be exposed, but if he stayed, he would be trapped.

"Sakura-chan," Sasori mumbled behind him, making Sakura stiffen up. "Do you love me?"

Suddenly Sakura's mouth opened and she looked desperately at him. His eyes were so sincere and so persistent to defend her with everything he had. She was worried how much trouble she had caused him. She knew the answer to his question, but was so worried about what would happen next.

"Y-Yes," she finally replied and with that, Sasori turned around and picked her up, jumping backwards onto the wreckage of the former Akatsuki base.

"STOP!" Naruto ordered Shikamaru "Sakura-chan!" the blonde called out, but Sakura couldn't bear to look at him. Suddenly Deidara swooped down and picked Sakura out of his arms.

"Wait! Deidara!" she shouted, but it was too late. They were high on the back of his clay bird before she could even contemplate jumping down from such a height.

"Don't worry, un," Deidara chuckled confidently. "Sasori-danna has it under control."

"What are you doing with her!" Naruto screeched to Sasori "Give her back!" Naruto ran after him, but Sasori cut him off with one of his puppets.

"I did nothing," Sasori plainly replied, but that just infuriated Naruto even more.

"I swear...If you've hurt her, I'll kill you," Naruto warned, but Sasori didn't take him seriously at all. As Sasori pulled his prized puppet back towards him, he revealed a large spike embedded on it, covered in a thick black liquid. It was the poison Sakura had invented for him.

"Naruto, pull back," Kakashi called out from his fight with Kisame, who seemed to be chasing him further and further from the field. "That poison, it's different from the one Kankuro encountered. And Sakura can't help you this time."

Naruto then noticed the large concentration of venom that covered the puppet. One touch would probably poison anyone straight away. Then he heard Sasori laugh.

"Especially..." he mumbled. "When she was the one who concocted it." Suddenly Naruto froze.

"Sa-Sakura?" he stuttered, a tear rolling down his cheek. Before he could even move, Sasori put his puppet into action and jabbed Naruto harshly in the stomach with the spike that was covered with the poison. Immediately, Naruto took to the floor with Kiba running over to him and Ino diving out of the trees in an attempt to heal him.

"There's no point," Sasori hollowly called out. "You can't heal it. There is no cure for this."

"What's going on?" Sakura cried, peering over the giant bird's wings in order to have a better look at what was happening with Sasori. But the moment she saw Ino appear from the trees and Kiba run over to Naruto, who lay motionless on the floor, she knew exactly what had happened.

"Deidara, take me down," she ordered, but the blonde just ignored her. "Deidara!" Sakura yelled at him, her voice shaking as she did so. "Take me down! Now!" As Ino tried furiously to heal the poisoned Naruto, Deidara landed the bird near them, and Sakura jumped off.

"Sakura!" Ino called out in relief, but then the reality set in as they watched her head over to Sasori, not them.

"What?" Ino cried, her voice hitching slightly.

"Sakura!" Shikamaru called over to her, but it was like she couldn't hear them at all.

"Sasori, what did you do?!" Sakura cried into him, panicking at her old friend who lay dying on the ground. Sasori didn't answer her, for she already knew. As Sakura fought with herself to help her old friend and to stay with her love, she felt like she couldn't breathe, but Sasori slowly pulled her into him, which shocked the Konoha shinobi.

"Sakura!" Ino cried loudly, finally making Sakura notice them. As she stood awkwardly by Sasori's side, Shikamaru tried to come up with a logical explanation for her actions.

"Maybe she's under the power of his chakra strings. She's not in control of her actions."

"No," Kakashi called out, finally re-entering the battle field with the Akatsuki. Kisame had also rejoined the main fight and he stood next to Sasori and Sakura. "It's not that."

 **A/N: I don't own anything**


	12. Chapter 12

**Chapter 12**

"Sasori, let me help him," Sakura begged him, but he stayed emotionless in the struggle.

"I can't do that, Sakura-chan," he replied, which caused tears to roll down her face. She could hear Naruto call out in pain, calling her name still, even through his own battle. "Besides," Sasori interrupted her thoughts. "This is your poison, you made it incurable." Sakura saw behind her that Deidara had landed, obviously waiting to carry the Akatsuki members away from this unnecessary battle. With a loud gulp, Sakura drew her hand into her pocket,

"Not exactly." She tried to smirk coyly as she drew a vile of purple liquid out from her clothes. At first, Sasori was angry. He had been lied to, but for some reason, he couldn't stay angry at her. He knew why she did it and a twinge of guilt hit him.

"I-I was scared," she admitted. "I-I thoug-ght you'd k-kill me with th-that poison… So I made an antidote," Sakura stuttered a lot. Kisame chortled in the background as he listened to the sob story. He was always heartless and this was no exception for him. Sasori just looked down to her and didn't say a word. He just stared at the vile that she held. Something in front of Sasori caught his attention and he looked straight over Sakura, who slowly turned around, not wanting to look at Naruto struggling for his life.

"Sakura," Kakashi said as he slowly approached the couple. Kisame took a step forward, but Sasori held his hand out to him, letting him know that he didn't need any help. He walked straight up to Sakura and Sasori, but she stayed by his side, shocking her former sensei.

"Please, Kakashi," Sakura stuttered. She looked back up to Sasori, and even though he didn't look back at her, but kept his eyes on Kakashi, she knew he trusted her. She slowly reached her hand out to Kakashi, who took her gently and brought her over to the ill-stricken Naruto, along with her other friends.

"Sasori, aren't you-" Kisame began, but his voice trailed off from Sasori's ears as he climbed onto Deidara's clay bird, preparing to leave.

"I'm sorry, Kakashi-sensei," Sakura whispered on their walk back to Naruto. "This is all my fault." Kakashi didn't look down to her. He just stared forward, but he could tell she was worried and nervous.

"Naruto hasn't stopped thinking about you," the copy nin admitted. "Even Tsunade-sama wanted to stop the search, but he insisted." Shock set in for Sakura. She was literally forgotten, a lost hope, but Naruto still cared. She felt herself welling up with guilt and sadness.

"This wasn't the way it was meant to be," the kunoichi told Kakashi and he seemed to understand. "I didn't mean for any of this to happen." Kakashi paused in his steps, causing Sakura to also stop and as Sasori watched in the distance, he tried desperately to see what they were talking about, but it was useless with Kakashi's mask. Deidara called him over and he slowly walked backwards, not taking his eyes off Sakura.

"What happened, Sakura?" the grey haired shinobi asked, but all she could do was blush and cry at the same time.

"I didn't mean it, it just happened. I-" she stopped, unsure on how to word it. But before she could even begin to explain, Kakashi understood her totally. He placed his hand on her petite shoulder and smiled through his mask, although as sad as a smile could be.

As she approached her friends, Ino looked at her with angry eyes, but she soon cried into her old friend. "I thought you were dead," she told her, but Sakura tried to stay as stoic as possible. She knew it was too good to be true.

Naruto was unconscious and barely breathing.

'To think I did this to him.' Sakura tried, her tears falling onto her dying friend. She opened the lid on the vile, exposing the needle at the end, and jabbed it firmly into Naruto's chest, as close to the heart as she could get it. Straight away Naruto coughed and spluttered dark blood from his mouth, so she placed his head to the side.

"Naruto," she whispered to him, stroking his brow, wiping it gently. "Only you would do this for me, you fool." She laughed through her tears. She gathered her chakra in her hand. As it glowed green, she moved her hand to his abdomen to heal the wound where the poison had entered him to begin with.

"Thanks, Sakura," Ino sighed in relief. She knew Sakura was far better than her at medical ninjutsu, especially under pressure.

From behind, Sakura could hear Deidara arguing, most probably with Sasori over their art and she knew it was time for her to leave soon. She took her time healing Naruto, loving every last second she could spend in his company, no matter how fleeting the moment would turn out to be. When her chakra disappeared from her hand, she lay it on her lap and took a deep breath inwardly.

"What now, Sakura?" Kiba asked her, but all she did was look up to her old sensei Kakashi. As she stood up, she smiled up to him.

"Thank you, Kakashi." The others just stared. They couldn't believe what they were witnessing.

"What should we tell him?" Kakashi asked her, referring for when Naruto regained consciousness. For a moment, Sakura shrugged and sighed loudly to him, unsure of what to say, but as she looked back over to Sasori and the others, she couldn't help but feel content with her choice.

"Tell him..." Sakura began, bringing her attention back to the group. "I fell in love." Ino's mouth dropped, as did Kiba's and Shikamaru's. The trio stared in disbelief as Kakashi allowed her to leave with the Akatsuki.

Sakura walked quickly to the large bird, edged on by Deidara and Kisame, who made fun of her for the dramatic scene she just caused by leaving.

"Sasori," she cried happily, delving into his arms as she sat down next to him. The puppeteer played with her new Akatsuki cloak as the bird took off and Kisame and Deidara left the couple alone to finally be together.

"Sakura?" Sasori mused, as they stared out onto the sun which was setting in the sky, leaving a misty red and orange shade in the trees.

"Hm?" Sakura sounded from her throat.

"I love you too."

* * *

It wasn't until they got back to Konoha and placed him in the hospital that Naruto woke up and fully recovered from the poison which almost took his life on that fateful day.

"Sakura? Where is Sakura?" Naruto asked in a dizzy haze. "Where am I? Why am I here? Where's Sakura?" He bombarded Kakashi and Ino with so many questions within the first twenty seconds of waking up.

"Naruto, Naruto," Ino shook him, to try to calm him down. "She-uh-," Ino began, but she just couldn't handle it and the blonde girl began to cry just thinking about her friend.

"Kakashi?" Naruto asked, his voice breaking, for he feared that he knew what was coming.

"She's uh-," Kakashi also stuttered, rubbing his face "She's dead, Naruto," he lied. Naruto tilted his head back, holding back the tears which quickly filled his eyes.

"Sasori. The poison," Kakashi broke. "She had one vile of antidote. And she gave it to you. She saved you." Ino smiled to herself, pretending to go along with the lie that Kakashi had just made up on the spot.

"S-Sakura-chan," Naruto cried heavily, his chest feeling locked up and his head so dizzy from what he heard.

"Naruto, you should rest," Ino instructed him, and as the pair left Naruto in the room, all they could hear were his sobs and broken voice calling out for his pink-haired friend.

"Why didn't you tell him the truth?" Ino cried, wiping a tear from her eye.

"Naruto would never forgive her," Kakashi admitted. "And neither of them would want that."

"So why death, Kakashi?"

"So she could be remembered as the remarkable medic nin, the kunoichi, the student...the friend. Not the traitor."

As Ino nodded, she felt relief and closure. It was better for Konoha to think of Sakura as dead. It preserved who she was whilst she was here. And Naruto would forever remember her as the friend, not the traitor.

And Sakura could live happily with the man she found love with, in the most inconvenient of times, Sasori.

 **THE END**

 **A/N: I don't own anything**


End file.
